Until I Sleep
by The Mother Rose
Summary: Another Naruto death fic but with a twist. Stars Naruto and Kakashi with Tsunade and brief mentions of others throughout. Told partially in Naruto's point of view but all in third person.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi all: Been a long time I know since I published anything. That's mainly because all the little plot bunnies that are driving me nuts right now are really weird. And I mean really weird. Pink with purple polka dots and red stripes weird. They look more like something Sakura would find attractive than me. I mean she does find herself to be attractive until someone mentions her forehead size. Which did anyone ever notice she makes no attempt to disguise or hide? If she's so sensitive about it why the hell does she broadcast it like she does? Anyhow those plot bunnies I've been killing are just too freaking weird to touch. **

**Like always Naruto, Kakashi and crew do not belong to me. Neither does the Akatsuki. Thank goodness on that group though. They're almost as weird as those plot bunnies I been killing. But this idea is all mine and I'd really like to know what you all think. There are some similarities to another of my stories but this is different from that story so do give it a chance.**

Until I sleep

Part One:

Monday:

_Hello. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I am told I am twenty years old now and I am finally going to die. I'm not really sure that's true. The being twenty now I mean. But that's what my precious people tell me so I guess it is. The dying part, yeah that's true and I know it is. But no. People aren't really telling me that._

_This is . . .a project one of my former Sensei suggested I do to help me prepare for it. Well, he suggested it once he faced the truth that nothing I do will advert my end now. It's kind of funny in a sad way but when I was younger I truly believed I was doomed to live forever. I never told anyone but . . .I did really believe it. I know most kids think they'll live forever. But that's only because they don't really know what death is yet. They always think it only happens to the other guy. For me though, it was different. I actually had reason to think I couldn't die. Probably why I was so reckless when I finally became a ninja. I mean why not be an in-your-face-and-never-getting-out-of-it-until-you-give-it-up-ninja when you know whatever they do to you, in a day or two you'll be fine and nobody'll ever be able to tell you weren't for a day or two? My Sensei at the time didn't like my combat style but he had his reasons for not liking it and I won't say they weren't good ones. _

_But you see, from my earliest days, there have always been people trying their hardest to kill me. So many people had tried so many different times and different ways to kill me. They were really creative and definitely in earnest about it, too. But no matter how creative or inventive they got, I survived and I really should have died more than once. In fact, more than a few times I honestly think I came really close to dying back then. But I always survived. So you see I did have reason for my belief._

_Most the time I only woke to more torment and torture but . . . Sometimes I'd wake to see the face of a precious person next to my bed watching over me as I slept and healed from whatever they'd tried this time. I always woke up and there was never any kind of a mark on my body to show for what I had gone through. No evidence to support Jijii's wish for punishment of those who were trying their hardest to kill me. Because there was never any scarring or bruises to back his claims, the council always denied him the right to punish the people for hurting me. Oh, they knew he was telling the truth but they didn't feel it was right to punish a mere human for beating on something like me. They never felt I was as human as everyone else and they resented me because I was stronger than they were; faster than_ _they were and because I healed. I healed without scarring and they could not. My mind was more resilient too and quicker to grasp the truths they didn't want anyone to know. For all of this they hated me. Bad enough they knew who's son I was but all these other gifts on top of having those two as parents was, to them, a slap in the face they could not ignore._

_But now. . .now I know. I am not Immortal. I can die and I am. In a way, it's a relief to_ _know my end is finally near but in a way, it terrifies me as well. A part of me welcomes it but a part of me can't ever feel grateful. That part of me knows when I die, so will many others as Kyuubi is freed from the seal Yondaime inscribed on me. And Kyuubi will go free when I die. I did not live long enough to do as Yondaime wished me to do. But then even if I lived a hundred years I would not have lived that long. I'll speak more of that later, I guess. Right now, that. . . hurts too much to even think about. _

_When Kyuubi is free of the seal, horror will run rampant in the streets of the village. Kyuubi has sworn to me, whether I want her to or not, she will take my revenge. She says it is not the way of the demon to let any action taken towards them on the part of another to go unrewarded. Whether that action be good or bad, a demon can not allow the act to stand. They must pay their debts. And Konoha has perpetrated a lot of acts against her and against me. Since she is a part of me, any action taken against me because of her is an action against her. She would lose standing with her own kind if she did not answer those actions and since I am dying I can not stop her now._ _She did say if they had not hurt me in their attempts to hurt her, what will happen to them when I die would probably not be as severe. . .but they did. They couldn't get to her without going through me and so I suffered for what they wanted to do to her. And others. . .well they honestly thought I needed to suffer. The Council. . .I do not envy them when I die. They thought they were so clever. . so smart but they were stupid to try to play a demon's game with the Queen of the Demons. How arrogant can you get? But when I die. . .They'll discover just what I have protected them from for the last twenty years. And knowing them, they will die cursing my name. _

Naruto set his pen down and closed the book where he was beginning the recording of his life for people to read when he was finally gone. He was trying to keep his thoughts organized and only write the honest truth in the pages of the book but what was truth to one was quite often fiction or outright lies to another. He knew chances of anyone believing what he wrote were slim at best but. . .that wasn't really the purpose of the journal. All he hoped to do was leave a message for the people in the vain and slender hope that the next jinchuuriki would be treated better than he had been. But there was only so long he could stand to sit still before the need for sleep would over take him and make his pen waver on the page. His handwriting was bad enough without trying to write in his sleep.

Moving to his bedroom floor he assumed the lotus position and meditated the way Gaara had shown him when he came to the village to retrieve Shukaku. An examination had shown Naruto's seal was in really bad shape now. Tsunade had tried to make Jiraiya fix it for him and even the council had rallied around trying to bully him into fixing the seal. For Tsunade, she didn't want Naruto to die but the Council was more concerned with losing their weapon than they were with anything to do with the human being Naruto was.

But Jiraiya would not consent to fix it (he was unwilling to sacrifice his own life to do so) and Naruto could no longer afford the luxury of sleeping like normal people. According to Jiraiya, Naruto should be made to stand sentry over the village while the normal people slept as real people need to do. His not being able to sleep only served as further proof to Jiraiya that Naruto was not the human he wanted everyone to believe he was. For that matter, the fact that he had survived to return to the village at all was just concrete proof to Jiraiya of his inhumanity and he didn't get why everyone was so worked up over the fact tha he was being revealed in his true colors now. But then Jiraiya hated Naruto with a passion he reserved for nothing and no one else in his life. He felt Naruto made a mockery of the Yondaime and the infant boy who had been born that unforgettable day twenty years ago. He refused to believe Naruto was that boy in every way. And the exposure of his true thoughts regarding Naruto had cost the man a lot. Tsunade now hated him as did Iruka and Kakashi. All Naruto's real friends and precious people held a special dislike of the Toad Sennin for what he had done and was refusing to do to set things right.

After four hours of meditating Naruto felt better and decided to try and eat something before he grew too tired again. Eating anything was so difficult now. But he did try. Usually Kakashi was here and did the cooking for him, knowing and understanding that if Naruto cooked the food he would usually not have the energy to also eat it. But Kakashi had left a small pot of the nutritional broth Tsunade had come up with for him and all Naruto had to do was heat it a little bit.

When Naruto had returned to the village about half a year ago and the consequences of his training trip were discovered, she assigned Kakashi to helping him survive while everyone else who cared for Naruto were given the task of finding a solution. She took care of his medical needs, refusing to let anyone else do it for fear of how the villagers would react should they know how bad off her Gaki was now. Kakashi took care of his physical needs and helped him to stay awake. Iruka took care of giving him things to do though he didn't come by too often. It hurt him to see what Jiraiya had done to Naruto. But they were the only three outside of the council and Jiraiya who actually knew what was going on with Naruto. And all three were fiercely protective of his privacy.

Kakashi had first requested permission to beat the shit out of Jiraiya for beginning the end of Naruto's life for him and she had reluctantly turned down his request pointing out Naruto was his student and needed Kakashi healthy and whole. Not recovering in the hospital. Instead he went home and destroyed everything he had that came from Jiraiya or had anything to do with him. His entire Icha Icha collection got destroyed with a fury he normally would not show inside the village walls. The ninja he was known as outside the walls came home that day and he let everyone know just how worthless he found the so-called great Sennin to be as a person.

After he destroyed his Icha Icha collection he was still furious. So he went and found Gai for a spar. Maito Gai hadn't even attempted to turn it into a friendly competition. He'd taken one look at Kakashi and correctly deduced this was not the time for the masks they both wore as a matter of habit within the village and around simple civilians who did not know or need to know exactly what kind of men they really were. He simply nodded his agreement and led the way to a training ground where they would not be disturbed. Once there he made Kakashi leave his weapons on the sidelines knowing the man was beyond pissed and would use them if they were within reach of his hands. He had to actually call in Anko and Ibiki to make sure Kakashi was disarmed but in the end a badly twitching Kakashi got his spar. Gai still needed the aid of Shizune before Kakashi's anger was spent but there had been a reason he chose Gai to spar against and, even as angry as he was, he knew the difference between friend and foe.

Their spar destroyed the training ground they held it in and they attracted quite a crowd of spectators while they were exhausting themselves but Anko and Ibiki kept those who were not Anbu rank or better away knowing neither man would wish for those of lower rank to see them in their serious modes. It was one thing to drop the masks on a mission of extreme importance. But it was something else entirely to drop it within the village itself. Those who held Anbu or higher rank already knew the two men wore masks and so the level of power and expertise they were displaying now was not a shock to them. Well, as much of one as it would have been to anyone else. There was a reason why both Kakashi and Gai were listed as elite ninja and anyone who saw that spar that day, knew exactly why they had achieved that ranking.

However, Tsunade did agree with Kakashi that Jiraiya needed to be punished and she knew exactly how to get him where it would hurt the most. She even got the Council to agree with her idea of how to punish the Sennin for what he had done. She let them know she was none to pleased with them either since it was their hair-brained idea to send Naruto out with a guy who had already tried to kill him once alone. And she held nothing of her scorn for them back as she let them know in her eyes this whole situation was their fault. They wanted Jiraiya to erase the human from Naruto and he had. They wanted Naruto to be nothing more than a demon chakra weapon toy for their amusement and power-hungry dreams and he had made them exactly the puppet they thought they wanted. Because of their stupidity, Naruto was dying and it was their fault. They, she insisted, had no one to blame but themselves. But she would punish Jiraiya for his part in this and they would not get in her way unless they wished to join him on her black list. The fury in her eyes and body language had the individual members who usually fought her no matter what she wished for, gulping and sitting quietly in their seat, not daring to so much as sneeze or fart in case it drew her attention. Quietly and in the total privacy of their thoughts they reminded themselves 'the scariest creature Kami ever made was an angry and defensive Mother defending one she saw as her youngling from those who would hurt it.'

She hired Kakashi and the Hyuuga Seal Master to design and develop a new seal just for the Pervert of the Century. And she told them exactly what the seal should do to make sure Jiraiya got the message. Never again would her old teammate write a dirty book. Never again would he steal a child's money and go spend it on loose women and booze. Never again would he peep on young women and girls bathing or swimming whether in the privacy of their own homes or in a public area. They were to make a brand new type of seal that would prohibit his favorite form of entertainment and relaxation. A seal that would not only prohibit it but would punish him should he try to entertain himself anyway.

The men grinned a purely evil grin as they agreed to make the seal. What they came up with was a seal no one had ever seen before and therefore was not something Jiraiya was likely to know a way to get rid of or around. They designed for him a Purity Seal of the truest form. This seal was non-removable too. He would wear it for the rest of his days and always remember exactly what it was for and why he had been the recipient of it. It did not take away any of his memories of his life or how he liked to spend his free time. Nor did it alter his personality in any way. It just punished him for stepping across the line of proper social behavior.

The Purity Seal was designed to prevent Jiraiya from peeping on the females as they bathed in the rivers, lakes and streams as well as the hotsprings. And was not limited to only those in Konoha or the Fire Country. Since the seal was on him it was effective in any and every place in the world. Jiraiya could try to peep on the girls but any improper thoughts he entertained would be punished immediately. First, he would find his eye sight dimming until he looked away. If he turned back to look again, hives would break out on his exposed skin and his eye sight would get even dimmer than it had been the first time. If he still persisted, the hives would turn into boils and then into warts and moles or other unsightly growths. And with every attempt his eye sight would continue to fade away. The more persistent he was the longer the growths would take to fade away and the longer it would be until he could see again. Since his maladies were seal created, they would not be affected by normal medication or chakra treatments. If he still did not desist he would get a massively blinding headache that would not go away for twenty-four hours or more and would also be unaffected by medication. So long as he had that headache he would find every noise to be too loud and every movement a nightmare. Even the smallest bit of light would pierce from his eye straight inot his brain with the strength of a laser beam.

The same punishments held true if he was trying to write a new book or read a pornographic novel. Even non-pornographic novels could have severe consequences for Jiraiya once the seal was in place upon his person. Tsunade wanted him to have no recourse to get around the punishment for what he had done to Naruto. Naruto could not escape the consequence of what Jiraiya had done so she saw no reason why Jiraiya should have an out either.

And both Kakashi and the Hyuuga Seal Master agreed with her. Because they both knew Jiraiya was an equal opportunity pervert, they included the nude form of males in the prohibitions of the seal. Both of them knew once he discovered the truth of his seal he would not only seek to get it removed or at least modified but that he would blame Naruto for it. They knew he would try and exact revenge against Naruto for his punishment and there was only one way Jiraiya would even think of punishing Naruto for the sealing. So they made sure it would not be possible for him to carry it out. Even thinking of punishing Naruto for the seal he received would put the Pervert on his knees with a blinding and crippling headache.

To Tsunade, since he had destroyed Naruto's life because the boy wore a seal it was appropriate that Jiraiya should find out exactly how restrictive life could be when you had to live with a seal upon your person. If it also gave the womenfolk of the world a little relief from his perving on them all the time, well, that could only be seen as a bonus. Jiraiya tried to get the council to speak up for him but found he didn't have a lot of support there. Not only had the Council got Tsunade's message loud and clear but a lot of them had womenfolk in their lives who had made it very clear what they would do to their men should said men be stupid enough to take Jiraiya's side on this issue. Men might run things in public but no real man ever had any doubts who ran things for real in their lives. And even if the only woman in your life was technically your own daughter, that was still one woman to many to defy if it could be avoided. They all decided this issue was one of those circumstances where ticking off their womenfolk was avoidable. So all the men of the council had discovered a very good reason not to stand up for him and protest the punishment and the women themselves could not see anything wrong with a seal that did not affect his ninja abilities at all but finally gave them a measure of security when they went to get a bath or change their clothing. It did not take long for Jiraiya to discover the cause and effects of his seal and to begin a nationwide rant against Tsunade, Naruto, Kakashi and the Hyuuga Seal Master for the deviousness of the seal.

But he couldn't even find sympathy with the Daimyo when he went to him to try and get a writ to force Tsunade to remove it or at least modify it so he could continue to write his novels. Instead, the Daimyo pointed out Jiraiya had been told many a time to modify his behavior or there would come a day when he would regret his actions. Now that day had come and whining and complaining about it wasn't going to accomplish anything. Besides, the Daimyo pointed out, he had a wife as well and Jiraiya had been caught peeping on her and his daughters more than a time or two. He point blank asked the old pervert how stupid he thought he was if he'd honestly thought the Daimyo would cross the women on this issue. He told Jiraiya as vicious as Tora the cat was to the genin teams that chased her around, she wasn't really any nicer to him when his wife was upset and he kind of liked having all his delicate parts uninjured thank you very much. A cat scratch there took forever to heal.

So Jiraiya went to Toad Mountain to see if they could help get rid of it. He tried to tell the Sage Toad the seal would interfere with his ability to contact them or enter into Sage Mode but the toads simply laughed at him since he had not had a problem coming to them for help in removing a seal he didn't want. The head Toad told him the Seal had been pre-ordained and they would not interfere with destiny in such a way. Because Jiraiya was a well-known pervert who had ruined many lives with his perversion and done nothing to fix those lives he had trashed his punishment by his fellow man was justified. The old toad had looked at Jiraiya sadly and told him if he had less hate in his heart he could have avoided his seal. Not only did he hate on an innocent child who had done him no wrong but his well known hatred of women that he had never made any attempt to disguise, had led to the type of seal he had received. Because of his hatred and lack of foresight, in regard to Naruto, he had destroyed the boy who's life had been anything but easy to begin with. Now the world stood on the brink of annihilation and he had yet to feel any remorse for his actions. The Head Toad had even warned him it would be his choice that determined the fate of the world but Jiraiya had not listened to him. He had told him he would meet the young man who had the power to change the world and his choice of how and when to train the boy would determine the path the boy would take. He made his choice and every choice has consequences. This seal was the consequence of his choice because he had made the wrong choice.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi All: I don't own Naruto, Kakashi or any of the crew they run with. Don't own Akatsuki either. Thank Kami. But I do own this idea.**

**I don't usually do this and those of you who have read my works before know I don't but I get so tired of asking, begging all the time that this time I will. I know, as an author on this site, it is my job to write the stories you will read. But you, as the reader, have a job to do as well. It is your job to review on what you read. Now it may not seem worthwhile to you but, trust me, it is to those of us who write for your enjoyment. If you do not review, we have no idea if you are enjoying our story, confused by it, hating it, or really quite frankly, what you are feeling. If we put in little clues for future chapters, we don't know if you catch them or not. And if you do catch them we have no idea what you think of the little hint. Therefore we don't know if we should do what we have planned or just skip it. That's the main reason your reviews are so important to me. I need to know this information. If we use words you don't know, we don't **_**know**_** you don't know them. It's your job to tell us that stuff and we do need to know. So please. It's great you are reading the story. It does take time to write themand we, as unpaid writers do pay attention to the number of readers our stories garner. We do appreciate every single reader we get but the reviews. . . when you look and you see over 100 readers and no reviews at all. . .well, you have to wonder. Is the story worth it? And while reviewing doesn't just mean complaining about spelling,capitalization and punctuation, even that kind of a review is better than none. **

**But a word of warning. heehee. Don't bother telling me, my paragraphs are too long. No matter how hard I try, that just won't change much. Those three line paragraphs you find other stories full of just really aren't my style. When I proof-read my work, which I do at least three times before I publish it, those shorty 'graphs have a tendency to get flushed out more or deleted as unnecessary.**

**Now here is Part 1 Tuesday. Enjoy.**

Tuesday:

_I will begin where I left off yesterday. Yesterday I was about to tell you why this is my end and I guess you do deserve to know. Not that I truly think you will believe me. No one ever has before. But you do deserve to know. So today I will try to get it recorded for you. Pray I do not grow too tired to get it all written down._

_You see, if someone has actually listened to Kyuubi or to Jijii, I would not be dying now but no one did. Nor did anyone ever really listen to me. She is a demon Fox and foxes are known, well known, for their tricky natures and telling half truths which are more lies than truth and Jijii was elderly; smart but so very old for a shinobi. They thought him senile at best and under the influence of the demon at worst and me. . .well I was just a dumb kid. What could I possibly know about my seal, and the demon it housed, that they in all their wisdom did not know? A better question would have been how the hell could I fail to know more about the demon and seal than they did since both were a part of me and not them? _

_But adults are never as smart as they think they are. Or maybe it's just kids are never quite as stupid as they'd like us to be. Either way, I knew this day was coming the first time I saw the Uchiha in that Hotel when we went to bring Tsunade back to the village to become the new Hokage after Jijii was killed. Maybe I should not have rejected the offer from Orochimaru to join his village. But I could never desert Konoha and there was no way I felt he could be trusted. _

_Anyway, I realized at that hotel, I had bigger enemies than Sasuke or anyone else had ever thought about having. Sasuke might have feared his brother and wished for vengeance against him but his brother wasn't a threat to Sasuke. He wasn't chasing him. He, and all his criminal friends, were after me for Kyuu. It was not much of a stretch to realize if he ever caught me, I would die. _

_Because that meeting also told me who it was Sasuke, my teammate, was training so hard to kill, for the first time in my life I found myself in a quandary. Part of me wanted Sasuke to hurry up and succeed but part of me also wanted to get in his way and prevent him from killing Itachi before Itachi could deliver me_ _to my death as well. Sad, isn't it. What kind of a twelve year old actually hopes someone succeeds in killing them? But ever since I had realized dying would be incredibly difficult for me, I found myself longing for it, lusting after it like a starving man chases a wild pig with a sharpened stick in hand, hoping he can catch it and kill it so he can eat. But you need to understand just why I found myself in that quandary. Although I could and did heal from everything that the people ever did to me, that does not mean I do not feel every ounce of the pain and torment they inflicted against me. I do and I remember it all very clearly. I can not forget it. Not a single second of any of that pain and torment has ever really been forgotten. It's all locked away inside the confines of my mind. Imagine if you could not forget even a tiny scratch. How desperate would you be for someone who could end things for you to do so? You should know there is only so much of that a person can take before it begins to swamp them and drag them under until pain and torment is all they can feel. By the time I met Itachi for the first time, I had already reached that point. _

_I know, you're sitting there wondering what is he talking about. Yeah ok. I expected that reaction really. After all, it'd be really strange if you didn't react that way. Somebody actually believe me without any proof to back up my words? Never happened before and not likely to happen now. But anyway I told you I would explain why I am finally dying and just why it's not necessarily a bad thing for me._

_Simple. I finally ran out of will power to fight against those who have more than your average amount of stupidity. After returning Tsunade to the village and seeing her installed as Hokage, I was assigned a mission I was not ready for. Of course I failed the mission and for that the council decided I needed to be dealt with. They, in all their glorious ignorance, decided that if I had used Kyuu's chakra, instead of my own, Sasuke would have been returned to the village and their control. Stupid fools. But because Kakashi, my Sensei and Sasuke's Sensei, had not trained me to use the chakra or even to not use my own natural chakra, they decided I did not use it. _

_They were wrong. I did use it but the problem was I was unwilling to kill or permanently injure my teammate and closest thing I had to a friend and brother while he was perfectly willing to kill me to go free. So I fought against both Kyuu's chakra and Sasuke refusing to kill or even permanently injure him just to force him back to the village. In a battle like that, the winner will always be the person who is willing to do whatever it takes to win. _

_The council_ _could have actually listened to the reports they received on the battle. Hell, they could have paid attention to the report of the hole in my chest from the fight and the electricity Tsunade told them was still coursing through my body when Kakashi-Sensei brought me back unconscious. But they didn't listen because they thought they knew the truth already. _

_Even if they had though I have to say what happened more than likely would have been the same. After all, a weapon that won't kill isn't something to fear and to them that's all I ever was. A weapon. Kakashi-Sensei used to tell me all shinobi are tools to their Hokage and Daimyo but to the council I was not a mere tool. A tool can be used for good or ill and as far as they were concerned I could only be used for good by doing ill. That made me nothing more than a weapon. A weapon to destroy what they wanted destroyed._

_So to teach me my place they sent me on a three year training mission with my Godfather. I was only twelve years old and I still believed if I tried hard enough and ignored all the bad things people did I would find people who could see me and would believe in me. It had worked a few times. I had convinced Iruka, my academy Sensei, to see me and Tsunade came back to the village because I convinced her to. She saw me as clearly as Jijii had seen me. And I had Kakashi. No matter how badly I screwed up or goofed off, Kakashi always saw me, the boy who was just as normal as everyone else. He always saw a little boy who needed to play and laugh and he played with me when no one else would. He laughed with me when others only sneered. _

_So when I was told I was going on a training trip with my Godfather, of course I was happy to go. I couldn't believe the closest thing I had to family would not only be unable to see me but would refuse to do so no matter how much proof he had of my humanity. I had already met him and he had already taught me some chakra control, removed a five point seal from the one Yondaime had given me and let me sign a summoning contract. I had already traveled with him to find and get Tsunade Baa-chan to become Jijii's replacement and on that trip he had taught me the rasengan, a signature move of the Yondaime's. So really, was my belief in him seeing me really so childish or unbelievable? I don't think it was. Especially when Kakashi-Sensei told me he would not hurt me and to listen to him because, although he was a pervert, he also had a lot of knowledge to teach me._ _I have always trusted and believed Kakashi-Sensei. He was my personal hero and he had never lied to me about anything as far as I knew. So hearing from him, to trust Jiraiya and listen to him was just the final proof I needed to give the old lecher my full and total trust._

_But Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, was not a person I should ever have trusted. He betrayed me worst than anyone else in the world and in betraying me, he betrayed my Father and he betrayed Kakashi-Sensei and Tsunade Baa-chan. He had taken me from the village on a training mission to learn to use Kyuu's chakra instead of mine. He told me up front my chakra might be more easily accessed but it was not as powerful as Kyu's and therefore I should not use it. He was wrong. My chakra was far more powerful than Kyuu's because it did not destroy me to use it as hers does and yet everything I can or could do with her chakra I could do just as easily with my own once I had enough of it. _

_But the stupid are always like that and he is the King of the Stupid. He told me I was a demon in human skin and I needed to learn to use the chakra of the demon. I remember telling him he was wrong and trying to explain it to him. He punched me across the face hard enough to sending me flying about three miles before I crashed into a boulder so hard I cracked it and passed out. When I came to, my chakra was sealed and he was gone._

_There was nothing I could do about it. He stayed out of the camp he left me in for three days so I could come to terms with what he did and understand I had no damn choice but to be the demon he thought I was. While some of my chakra still swirled through my body there was no way I could access it because he left only enough to keep my organs functioning and the seal intact. Well, in place anyway. You might be asking why I let him do that. Don't be an idiot. I_ _didn't let him do anything._

_When he returned to the camp, he told me how much he despised me for what I had done and was still doing. He hated how I resembled his former student and used his child's body as if it were really my own when we all know demons have no need for human flesh and bone. He told me no matter what I did I would never have his respect so long as I wore Naruto's skin and pretended I was Naruto. Then he admitted he was not going to take me back to Konoha until I gave up my pretense of being a normal human being like anyone else and learned my place was at the feet of the real humans. He also informed me that any time I ever attempted to backtalk him again he would punish me for it. Only the real Naruto was allowed to backtalk a person and I sure as hell wasn't the little boy I had killed before he got to live for more than an hour. He informed me the Council did not want me back in the village until I became a proper weapon for them to deploy and it was his job to make sure I did so. Then he stole my wallet and disappeared again. _

_I wish I could say it was a shock to hear him tell me I wasn't Naruto but I'd be lying if I said that. That was a lie I was all too used to hearing from the villagers when they beat the crap out of me to punish Kyuu and try to make her go back to her own realm. They at least had an excuse for being so stupid. They were not ninja who were supposed ot have at least a basic understanding of seals. But Jiraiya was supposed to be a lot more knowledgeable and when it came to seals he was supposed to be one of the smartest men alive. Yet he was just as blind and stupid as anyone else. I spent the next week crying because I knew I had lost the fight to be myself and I couldn't even tell anyone. Sure I could have summoned Gamakichi and asked him to go tell Kakashi-Sensei but I had no reason to believe Kichi would listen to me if he was summoned from Kyuu's chakra and that was the only chakra I could call on even if he did, what good would it have done to tell Kakashi-Sensei? The damage was done and the Council had ordered this trip. Kakashi-Sensei did not have the authority to override their decisions and I was very much afraid Tsunade Baa-chan would not believe me over her old teammate. So all I could do was sit and cry for what I had lost knowing full well it was the beginning of my end. Kyuu wasn't any happier than I was. _

_I know. You're confused again. She's a demon. Imprisoned in a seal on the body of a_ _mortal child and a stupid one at that. How could she not be happy at the idea of my seal weakening due to a lack of my chakra to supply it or about corrupting my body and mind every time I channeled her chakra for my own use? Right? Yeah well, sometimes demons are really smarter than people. She knew he had just signed my death sentence and my death sentence is her death sentence. Using her chakra on a regular basis would weaken and corrode my seal but not the seal that blocked my own chakra. Jiraiya had made it resistant to her chakra so she couldn't simply burn it off me._

_If he had understood me a little bit better, he would have known my healing factor relies on my chakra and not Kyuu's. It might be automatic and all, meaning I don't have any control over it, but it can only work if I have the chakra to let it work. But the ashhat really did think my healing was a demon given trait meant to protect me as Gaara's sand wall protects him. Stupid man. He sealed away so much of my chakra I no longer had enough to heal myself from the damage channeling the red would do to me or anything else I should suffer. He didn't understand that healing factor was what made Otousan choose me over all the other infants in the village. Only I had it and only I could heal from the red chakra as well as mortal wounds. And only I would heal my own mind from the torments of being a demon vessel living in the midst of normal men. Yeah, you read that right. Up to that point in time my chakra had circulated through out my mind healing the damage done to my mental state by the trauma of having come too close to death too many times to the point where Shinigami was just about ready to give me his name rather than his title. He saw me so often. _

_But to understand that he would have needed to see me as a human being and that was something he was, and still is, determined never to do. He refused to see me as human in any way. So I guess it never occurred to him that sealing off my chakra insured I could not heal myself and that meant I would die the same as any other mortal using demon chakra or being touched by it would do. But honestly he didn't care if I died because of what he did. In fact I think he wanted me to die. Then he could say he had freed Minato's baby from the grasp of the Kyuubi and returned the child to his parents. He will never admit he killed his student's son._

_And the council are nothing more than self-absorbed liars who care only for themselves and the power they are addicted to. They told him I was refusing without good reason to wield Kyuu's chakra and he believed them. But really it was more because they wanted to separate me from Baa-chan so they could work on how she perceived me and get her under their thumb as they had never controlled Jijii. They honestly did think the seal Yondaime gave me was designed to make me a weapon like no other in order to put Konoha on the top of the heap, militaristically_ _speaking. In their eyes, I was never just a human child with a heavy job to do. I was the weapon Namikaze Minato crafted for them at the cost of his own life and soul. And they needed me separated from Tsunade Baa-chan so they could convince her of their point of view in regards to me. It didn't work because she is something they are not. She is a medic. None of them are and when a medic does your physicals for you, it's really hard to convince them you are not flesh and blood like everyone else._ _My Baa-chan knew I was flesh and blood. She knew the healing I was so well known for having had nothing to do with Kyuu or my seal but was instead my birthright as the child of my Kaasan._

_Oh and the part about Namikaze Minato sacrificing his soul. . .it's untrue by the way. Shinigami will release Minato from his belly as soon as I die since Kami does not allow him to hold onto souls like that forever. He did not sacrifice his soul. He sacrificed mine but not his. _

_I guess that's not quite true either. He never intentionally sacrificed my soul. There was a chance my soul would not have been sacrificed either. It's why his dying request was for the village to see me as a hero and not a villain but it was such a small chance . . . If only . . . well no matter. It's too late now to change anything. All there's time for now is regrets and . . .I just can't feel sorry for those who are now regretting their past behavior. They should have thought things through better before they did whatever it is they regret now. Then they wouldn't have any regrets to begin with._

Naruto again set his pen down. He was proud of how much he had managed to write today but he knew there was more to explain still. However, he was tired and his writing was getting sloppy as a result. Once again he slipped to the floor and assumed the lotus position so he could rest his mind at least. Kyu did her best to help him but there wasn't much she could do. Tsunade and Kakashi were looking for a way to remove the seal Jiraiya had used to block his chakra in the vain hope the chakra would be released in time to begin healing the damage from seven years of abuse. They knew chances were, it was too little, too late.

Out in the village Tsunade was receiving a report from Sakura's team as they reported back from a fruitless mission to discover a method of unsealing someone's chakra when it had been wrongfully sealed away against the person's will. Sakura didn't know whose chakra had been sealed but she was coming to understand once chakra had been sealed it was impossible to unseal it without causing the death of the person involved.

She told Tsunade as much, saying, "Every person we talked to and showed the seal design to said the same thing, Shishou. They all said you should just make the person comfortable and see to it they receive non-shinobi training so they can live out the rest of their life as a normal. With that seal on, they can not ever function as a normal shinobi again and any time they try and fail to access their own chakra will only bring them closer to death and/or insanity. Whether the seal was deserved or not is beside the point. The person wearing this seal has been punished and nothing anyone can do will change it." She looked at Tsunade hoping the woman would sigh and agree without too much trouble.

"No. I will not give up. He would not give up if this seal was on anyone else and I will not give up on getting it off of him. As for preparing him to live his life as a normal citizen, what makes you think he'll live that long to begin with? You think I would do this if I didn't have to? You think I would send my shinobi begging other countries for information on this seal if I could simply retrain him to live in some other way? Don't be so stupid, Sakura. This seal is killing him and I need to get it off him. If it isn't possible to remove it then I need to alter it so he can live."

Sakura carefully hid her eye roll and sigh at how stubborn her mentor was being. Though she was not the leader of the squad she had taken control of the team away from Shikamaru saying he was too lazy to ever know when it was appropriate to think for himself. "Well, everyone we talked to said it isn't killing him because it does allow for a trickle of his chakra to get through. They all said enough chakra gets through the seal to keep his organs functioning so there is no reason to believe he is dying, Shishou. Whoever it is, just tell him to go train as a civilian and let us get back to regular shinobi work. There are mission contracts going unfilled right now because you have everyone covering the world looking for information on this seal and ways to remove it. You don't even have us asking after who could design and apply this seal, which tells me you know who put it on whoever is wearing it and they either are no longer living or they refuse to take it off. Why not just work on that person unless you know damn well why they did it and know it was deserved. I have training I am missing out on getting done and the others should be doing the regular missions that make it possible for Kaasan and her comrades to keep the village running. Let us get the normal missions done. Whoever this person is, is not more important than everyone else and they are being incredibly selfish to divert everyone this way because they don't like the punishment they received."

One of her teammates spoke up. "You really are troublesome, Sakura. I thought Ino was the most troublesome girl of our year but you top her by a landslide."

She looked over her shoulder at him and sneered knowing the expression could not be seen by Tsunade from her angle. "What's that supposed to mean, Shikamaru? You know this is a waste of time and we should not be wasting our energy on those who have failed to protect themselves adequately enough. Even if this person is innocent of whatever they were punished for, they should have fought harder for their freedom and clearly the person who sealed them did not think they were innocent at all. They are sealed and useless as a ninja now. Konoha does not have time to waste on failed and useless nins. It's time to move on and get back to protecting our village as we were trained to do."

"Stupid girl. There is nothing more pressing we can do to protect the village than find a way to get this seal off Naruto before he dies," said Tsunade sadly. "Because I assure you, the day he dies, a whole lot of other people are going to die with him and right now, after hearing that garbage spew from you, I wouldn't be too sure you aren't among that number. I wouldn't be too sure any of your class isn't among that number. So if I want you to spend the rest of your life, or the rest of his, searching for a way to remove that damn chakra blocker seal from him, you will do it. Do you understand me?"

"This seal is on Naruto?" Sakura asked almost snorting in laughter. "You got to be kidding me. He finally messed up and he's the one who has to pay for it. Finally." She started laughing and it was all everyone else in the room could do not to react. When she noticed no one else was laughing she composed herself and said, "I've been waiting for years for his screw-ups to finally catch up to him and it seems they finally have. But he is not dying. Naruto can't die. He may be nothing more than a useless screw-up of a ninja but dying is not something he can ever do. Kaasan said so but even if she hadn't I know damn well he can't die." She turned away leaving the rest of her team and the Hokage all staring at her in shock.

Five minutes after she had left the office, Shikamaru turned to the Hokage and sat down in the chair before her desk. "All right. Begin at the beginning and tell me exactly how Naruto came to have this very dangerous seal on him and who put it there. I don't care what the so called sealers of the world have to say. If it can be put on him, it can be removed. And, unlike his former teammate, I do know it isn't likely Naruto screwed up at all. Even his so-called screw-ups never really are. They are always what is in the best interest of the village he swore to do everything he could to protect. So if this seal is killing him and therefore endangering the village, I know damn well he would have fought not to receive it if he'd had any chance of fighting at all."

And so Tsunade went through what she knew of the last seven years of Naruto's life, explaining why she was working so hard to get the seal off him before it was too late, who had given it to him, how long it had been on him and why he had it. She held nothing back as she told him what she knew of the changes in Naruto as a result of his new seal. She told him it was her fault he had it because it never occurred to her he wouldn't be safe with only his Godfather. If she'd known how the man felt about Naruto, she wouldn't have allowed him to go alone. Hell, she more than likely wouldn't have allowed him to go at all. But she had trusted Jiraiya and Jiraiya had done this to him. She explained how she had to call on other sealers to decipher the seal because Jiraiya refused to give them any information about it at all. He said if they removed it Naruto would go right back to making a mockery out of the Yondaime and pretending to be a mortal boy. Well young man now but to her he was still a boy and always would be. She also explained what had happened as a result of Naruto not being able to use his own chakra and about the other seal he wore.

Shikamaru listened carefully to everything she said and then after pondering all the information she gave him said, "So that is why you are so sure he is dying now and why it is not a good thing for the village. I agree. He is dying and that is bad. Very bad for Konoha. I want every bit of information you have on seals and on this seal in particular. If there's a way to free him from it, I will find it. I may not be able to do the unbinding but if there's a way it can be done, I will be able to discover it."

Tsunade beamed at him hope shining in her golden eyes. She wrote him out a note giving him access to all the sealing information they had and he left the tower. Once outside he sent Chouji to his home to tell his Kaasan he would not be home for a few days and to leave him alone. He knew Chouji would explain things to Yoshino so she did not interfere as Shika tried to save Naruto's life because both Shikamaru and Chouji knew if Tsunade said the seal was killing Naruto, then it was. Tsunade had told the two boys Naruto's demon seal was corroded and breaking down to the point he could no longer sleep without fear of the demon being released which wasn't strictly speaking the truth but she didn't want to scare the lazy genius. She said he was afraid to sleep in case he never woke up again and she said he had good reason to be afraid. But she avoided explaining exactly why that was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi All: Here's today's installment of the story. I was asked why the toads didn't punish Jiraiya since it's clear they do like Naruto and therefore wouldn't they be upset over what Jiraiya has done to him? And the answer is, yes the toads that know Naruto would be upset over Jiraiya's behavior but Jiraiya is the toad _Sage_. Not Naruto. Naruto knows a few of the toads but Jiraiya knows them all. Also the toads are summons. They don't actually live in the same plain of reality as the people do and they are not Gods. So they wouldn't know what was happening to Naruto unless they were summoned around him and actually asked what was going on. Jiraiya is very careful to make sure if he summons them not to do so around Naruto. And Naruto doesn't want to use Kyuubi's chakra just to summon the toads so he hasn't summoned them since Jiraiya sealed his natural chakra. Therefore they really don't know. I hope that explains things for anyone who has been asking the same question. Feel free to ask anything else that you're curious about and I'll do my best to answer. Who knows it may be I simply forgot the angle you are wondering over. **

**As always Naruto, Kakashi the Akatsuki and the rest of the crew are not mine. I just play with them and make them do what I want them to do.**

Wednesday:

_Continuing from where I left off yesterday, Jiraiya did eventually return from wherever he had disappeared to. I found out the reason he returned was because I was broke. He had spent all my ryu on women and booze as would become the pattern. He watched me moving around the camp, silently for a change. I had finally gotten past the tears and realized there was nothing I could do to change things. Kyuubi had examined the new seal and told me there wasn't a way to remove it that wouldn't immediately kill me and her. I wasn't sure I believed her but she really didn't have much reason to lie about it since we both knew what using her chakra would do to me and that meant she was aware that I would die anyway so long as it stayed on me. Jiraiya didn't know it but Kyuubi and I were working together to come up with a way to stop me from using her chakra for as long as possible. We both knew it was an automatic thing for a ninja of my training level to reach for our chakra when presented with a battle. And now that meant I would automatically reach for her destructive chakra since I could no longer reach my own._

_Jiraiya finally spoke to me that night after I finished cooking a rabbit I had caught and killed the normal way. He took ninety percent of the meat leaving me the bones to gnaw on but then he didn't think I really needed my food cooked either. That too was something only humans needed. Not demons. Demons, he told me, do not eat cooked meat but if he ever saw me eating raw meat in front of him, he would make all the previous attempts to free Naruto from my control look like child's play. Stupid man. He told me once I learned to use Kyuu's chakra, he would fill my hands with so much blood and gore, I would have to admit I was nothing more than a blood thirsty demon and do as the council wished me to do. Kill for the village when and where they told me to. And so long as I had access to my own chakra, (or as he put it Naruto's chakra), I would not comply. I was too stubborn to willingly give in and my own chakra, a trait he said I stole from the real child I had been born as. I wouldn't even look at him and I sure as hell didn't bother to talk to him. My silence though let him think he was right I guess because after that he stopped calling me Naruto or Kid or even Baka anymore. He only called me Demon from then on. But talking was a human thing and I saw no need to talk to a murderer. Especially not my own. Even if he was a walking, talking mass of contradictions. I mean come on he admitted demons do need to eat also but then he tells me I can't eat in front of him or he'll kill me. What kind of logic is that? Not that I wanted to eat raw meat. Eww. . .How gross is that?_

_But as much as I despise the man, he wasn't totally stupid. He knew he could not actually train me in things demonic or fighting as a demon. After all, he was just an angry, middle aged man with more hatred than sense. How else would you, could you, explain how he could love and idolize the Yondaime as he does and still believe the man would condemn his only child the way he clearly does? He let his hate warp his thinking and there's nothing else to say about it. _

_Anyway, he gave me a list of jutsu he thought Kyuubi appropriate and disappeared for days. I spent the time he was gone learning to fight without using any chakra at all. If Rock Lee could do it, I reasoned then so could I. I practiced my taijutsu and trap setting, using non-chakra enforced items to set the traps and camouflage them, instead of my few remaining shinobi tags and seals that needed chakra to be set off. Kyuubi did her best to help me but she was even more addicted to using chakra than I was. Since she is primarily made up of chakra, she never had to fight without using it and the concept was as alien to her as eating non-frozen water would be to us. You drink water. You don't eat it. Jiraiya never noticed I did nothing to learn those jutsu he gave me. Nor did he seem to notice I did not change as I would have once I became used to channeling demon chakra. You can not channel demon chakra without suffering physically for doing so. But I guess only the demons and their vessels would know that, since mortal men never listen to those they think are less than they are._

_We established a pattern that we lived by for the next two and a half years. He'd ignore me as much as he could leaving me either in a hotel room for days on end or in a campsite outside of some tiny little village that was too small to have a hotel. He'd come back when he was broke and take me to a new location, where he'd get me a few jobs to earn more money while he was doing whatever he wanted to do. Usually those would be the times when I lived in a spartan camp far enough away from whatever village he was romping and whoring around in that no one even knew he wasn't actually alone. I would do the missions, which were always horrible, nasty jobs normal ninja didn't wish to do, and then when I'd be breaking down having nightmares and be unable to eat, or too injured to do any more missions, he'd return to the camp to get the evidence of completed jobs and disappear again. I took me a few weeks to realize he never brought any ryu back for me or any materials either. I knew he was stealing the ryu from the jobs and using it to keep himself entertained. _

_He was nothing to me but a murderer and a thief and the worst example of mankind there was. I saw nothing of worth in him any more and knew I never would. He was not my Godfather any more or even the man who had taught me Otousan's jutsu. Since I could not use them without harming myself what good were they now? I hate him as much as I can bring myself to hate anyone because he is responsible for the destruction that will fall upon my home. The home my Otousan and Kaasan loved as much as I do. It's a sad truth I found that when one can love, one can also hate. And as much as I have always tried to never hate anyone, it doesn't work with the largest mass murderer in the history of the world. Not for me anyway._

_At first, I did good resisting the use of the red chakra and I never did use more of it than was necessary to complete a task. But in the end I did use it. I ran across an enemy who was just too strong to be beaten without it. My training as a ninja would not let me back away from the_ _guy even though I knew I couldn't beat him without Kyuu's chakra, because no ninja takes a job they do not do their absolute best to complete and he really did need to die. Even Kyuubi said he was evil and would continue to act in the depraved manner that had led to him being sought by every small village and nation in the land. The big five weren't hunting the guy yet but that was more because the small places had not gotten together to pool their resources to get the guy listed in the bingo books or hire a specific team of Hunter-nin to take him out. And that meant he would have many more victims if I did not kill him for the small village that had hired Jiraiya to do the job. And yeah, Jiraiya was the one being hired by these little villages for these nasty jobs. Not me._

_That fight was the beginning of the end for me, though. Calling on Kyuu's chakra had disastrous effects on my body that Jiraiya refused to acknowledge were real. I was spitting blood from the effect of her chakra coursing through my body and invading my organs and he laughed when he saw me choking on my own blood. He told me to swallow it and quit faking. Besides, he told me, if the chakra finally got rid of the mask of the little boy I had killed, so be it. He wanted it gone anyway. He was tired of seeing me tormenting that little boy who'd never done a thing to me. But he did take the proof of job completion back to the village and leave me to recover for a few days without his interference._

_After that job though life became much harder for me. I think, since he had witnessed me spitting and vomiting up my own blood, he really thought he was close to destroying the mask of Naruto that I wore. And I know he really did want to destroy it. He increased the number of jobs he got for_ _me and none of them were any easier than the one that had forced me into using Kyuubi's chakra. Between my training as a ninja and the ingrained habits and rules of ninja life, and the nightmares my missions gave me, I was a wreck. It quickly reached a point where I could not eat or sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I would see the people I destroyed and no matter how bad someone is, they don't deserve to_ go _out writhing in pain from a lance of demon chakra that simply came too close to where they stood. More than one innocent person died because they were too close and I couldn't pull the chakra back in time. I tried to, though. Lord did I try. _

_And the hardest to deal with were the children. Children who were simply too innocent to believe Mommie or Daddy wasn't simply sleeping and got too close to them to try and wake them up. They died screaming in fear and pain and not understanding why they were being hurt at all. And every night in my nightmares I would see them die all over again. I would hear them asking why. Why had I killed them? Why had I killed their Mommie? Why had I killed their Daddy? Even Kyuu was affected by the children. She would whimper when I would suffer through the nightmare questions and accusations in their eyes. Because it was her chakra that killed them she felt their deaths too. And because it was her chakra that led to me killing them she could do nothing for the memories. This time she couldn't take them away from me. All I could do was cry and suffer through Jiraiya's mockery of my tears and nightmares. All I could do was vomit blood and do another mission while he spent the ryu he had done nothing to earn. But spending money is a human thing and in his eyes since he had to get me the missions I did, he had earned the right to spend it. Lazy damn thief. I was only a demon weapon at his disposal. His to deploy until the council called me back to Konoha to fight for them. I think he liked having me earning the ryu he was spending . I think he liked having a slave to pay for his lifestyle. He finally told me he would not take me back to Konoha until they called for me to return as he was not going to let me beguile the good people of his home any longer with my false mockery of them and the people they loved and cared about. Tsunade he said did not deserve to be a part of my little headgame as she had already suffered enough heartache in her life._

_I lost track of time then. I admit, to protect myself, I locked my conscious away inside the deepest recesses of my mind and just did as he expected me to. Kyuu helped me protect myself as best she could even though both of us knew there really wasn't much point in it. All I wanted was to come home so I could see Baa-chan, Kakashi-Sensei and Iruka-Sensei again. And that's why we tried to protect me from the damage of my decaying life. I had already given up on sleeping and eating. I knew without food and sleep I wouldn't survive for long but the effects of the red chakra made it near impossible to keep the food in my system and the missions I was doing made sleep just as impossible. _

Naruto quit writing to open the door. Kakashi was there and he examined the tired blond without saying a word. He walked into the kitchen setting down the bag of groceries he had purchased. Naruto could only handle light, nutritional broths now but it was better than the nothing he had been able to eat when he had returned to the village. Tsunade had healed his stomach as much as she could but years of not being able to really eat had shrunken his stomach to the point that it rejected whatever he tried to put in it if it was not bland enough or mild enough. Kakashi started fixing the broth for Naruto and while he did, he talked to him knowing the boy was tired and ready to sleep if he could not meditate to prevent it. But he also knew, so long as Kakashi was there, he would not meditate. So he talked to him instead.

"Sakura's team made it home. Hokage-sama was really happy about it because she was hoping they had news for us. They had five names on their list. She gave up after talking to only three of them. She made the team come home because everyone was telling her the same thing and she felt it was a waste of time to keep searching." He paused to put the vegetables into the simmering pot.

"I'm really disappointed in her. She not only gave up in finding a solution to the seal that bastard put on you but when she found out it is on you, she laughed and blamed you for getting it. I knew she could be a bitch but I never dreamed she'd turn her back on you like this. I thought I had taught her better than that."

Naruto put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder and the silver haired man looked at him wondering what Naruto wanted to say. Naruto had not used his voice in so long and had spent so many years throwing up everything he tried to eat or drink, he had done a number on his throat. The result was he could barely speak at all now and what he did say was so softly said if you didn't listen closely you missed it.

"She is bitter and angry with me because Sasuke has not been returned to her. Because Jiraiya took me from the village, and turned me into an abomination, she believes he will never return to her. She is right about that. Since he was never with her in the first place, even if he does return, it will not be to her." He paused for breath and Kakashi waited knowing Naruto had more to say. Another effect of channeling the demon chakra was he could no longer breathe correctly or deeply. The effort to talk was a tremendous strain for him but that's exactly why it worked to keep him awake. He had to concentrate fiercely on talking and breathing at the same time. "Add her fool of a Kaasan into the mix and you have someone who never could see me," he finally added. "And her Kaasan is a fool. The woman still does not believe I am dying and, until the day comes when I sleep and do not wake, she never will." He stopped speaking before he could say what was in his mind.

Kakashi wanted to know what he thought though and he pressed him to tell him. He could tell when Naruto had more to say and he would press him to keep speaking every time he cut himself off like that. It had taken him a while to convince Naruto he did not love or care about the people who had hurt him, who sought his destruction every day of his life. Naruto didn't believe him until the night Kakashi had broken down after watching Naruto vomit blood and the thin gruel they had tried as a way of getting some nutrients into his body.

Crying and screaming over what he witnessed, Kakashi had confessed he wanted nothing more than to go rip up all Jiraiya's internal organs so he could suffer as Naruto was suffering. Naruto ended up holding the silver-haired nin that night and letting him cry himself out, while he explained that when he finally fell asleep, Kyuubi would take care of those people for them both. But Jiraiya would not be the only one to die. Many others would perish along with him. And now Kakashi pumped Naruto for his ideas whenever he broke off a conversation like that. He had come to learn it was generally because Naruto didn't think Kakashi would approve of what he was thinking.

Now, stirring the vegetables in the seasoned water, he asked, "What are you hiding from me now, Naruto? You know how I feel about people who act like that. I know once she was precious to you but. . .right now? I just don't think she deserves that classification any more."

"I . . .don't. . .," he shuddered and shook his head.

"Tell me. Is Sakura on Kyuubi's list?" Kakashi asked shrewdly.

Naruto started and nodded glumly. "Hai. She has been for years. It's why I kept trying so hard to wake her up. Make her think for herself instead of just blindly following the words of her Kaasan. But I never could break through to her. I never could make her see I wasn't the monster that woman told her I was. And every time I would heal from injuries or poisons, it only reinforced what she told her. More than once, she tested her Kaasan's words. When she found I did heal from things other ninja would need immediate hospital care for, she even arranged to show Sasuke the truth of who she thought I was so he would quit thinking of me as a person the same as himself as well." He closed his eyes and gave the jounin a tired smile. "It didn't work with Sai though when she tried to tell him the same thing."

"If Kyuubi thinks she deserves to die Naruto, then she does. And I know, if she tried to kill you, I think she is a traitor and deserves whatever punishment Kyuubi and her friends mete out for her. I know I should be telling you just the opposite but remember the nindo I gave you when the team was formed? I meant it. You, Sasuke and Sakura were teammates. You were supposed to learn to work together and care for each other above anyone else. Not sabotage each other and try to kill each other. Sasuke could not dismiss his hatred of his brother to care for either of you and she could never care for anyone but him. Also, I may not know many demons but I think I know enough about this one you have in that seal to know, she would not have made this decision if she did not truly feel it was deserved. Maybe I'm being niaive but that's how I feel about it. That she has clearly put a great deal of thought and planning into it, only makes it clearer to me. Sakura deserves whatever it is Kyuubi will do to her."

Naruto shook his head and with tears in his eyes, explained. "No one deserves what Kyuu and her friends will do to Sakura, Kashi. Kyuu has been keeping Sakura alive for a long time now because she wants to reward her for the way Sakura has always treated me and the extremes she has gone to in order to prevent anyone else from ever seeing in me someone they could like and get along with. Everyone thinks I am the one who always made the decision to save her life and to a point, I did but to spare her Kyuu's reward, I would have gladly let her suffer a disabling injury that would have made it impossible for her to continue life as a ninja. She is blinded by the lies of her Kaasan but still. . .what Kyuu will do to her. . .I do not want to see."

He paused and shakily wiped the tears from his eyes, determined not to cry for the girl he had tried to save. Slowly he continued to speak. "Sakura will live long enough to die in front of her Kaasan and this latest betrayal has only ensured Sakura will not survive what Kyuu does to her intact. Kyuubi will not allow her to suffer until I fall asleep. But once I do, it's over for the Haruno family. They will both be destroyed in full sight of each other and with total knowledge of exactly why they are both being destroyed. Sakura will hear everything Kyuu tells her Kaasan as to why Sakura is dying as she is as well and Kiku will hear exactly how she failed her daughter and her responsibility as a mother. Only when both are destroyed, when there is nothing left of them to demolish, will the demon let them both die. And when they finally die there will be no one left alive to bury either of them."

"The demons plan to kill everyone in the village? I thought they only planned to kill those who had tried to kill you or had a hand in this final act of betrayal." He couldn't hide the bitterness in his voice as he thought about the ploy his village council had pulled to get him away from Naruto and leave the boy defenseless.

"No. They won't kill anyone who did not harm me. They will not kill anyone who is innocent of wrong doing. Even those who only turned their backs and pretended they could not see or hear will be left alone. The demons understand the fear of the weak that controls their actions when confronted by those they perceive as strong. I have their word on it that those people will be left alone as will those who slipped me things they knew I was in need of without anyone knowing they were giving to me. But I think they plan to make it so that anyone who had a hand in the new seal I wear can not be buried or their bodies burned once they are dead. I don't know how but. . .that's the implication I get when Kyuu talks about it and that does include Jiraiya, Sakura and the full council."

"Rather gruesome but fitting too. A traitor does not deserve burial and they are all traitors. Sandaime is going to destroy them when they reach the Kami for judgement. After all, he did to try and tell them you were just a boy like any other with a bloodline and this is how they repaid him."

"Yondaime will not be too pleased with them either so Jijii might have to compromise some." Naruto quirked his lips slightly. He was getting used to showing his emotions again but only around Kakashi. He still wouldn't look anyone in the eye or smile for anyone else. Nor would he talk to anyone except Kakashi. His voice was too rough and quiet now and the scars on his face and body from where the red chakra had poured out long enough and strong enough to burn his skin off had made him reluctant to be around people if he didn't need to be. Kakashi set the cup of broth in front of him with the drinking straw he needed to use now since his tongue and inside cheeks were so sensitive it hurt to let anything touch them. Even drinking plain water was painful.

"Tomorrow Hokage-sama wants to try another healing on you. She wants to see if she can heal your throat a little bit more and your lungs too." He paused trying to figure out how to tell Naruto the rest of the request.

"What else, Kashi?"

"Yamanaka-san has asked her to let him see if he can do something about the nightmares that are keeping you from sleeping," he said in a defeated tone of voice that told Naruto Tsunade was of two minds about it. On the one hand it would be a good thing if he could help but on the other hand he was a member of the council that had signed the order that was now killing him.

"No. He acts for the Council. Not me. They know I brought Shukaku back for Gaara and they want to know what other demons I brought back. How do they get them out of me? How do they get me to agree to let them seal another baby? So they can have unbroken weapons. New weapons. Write me off. Throw me on the trash heap. I won't do it!" His voice had risen with his fear and anger and he bent over coughing harshly in between gasps for air he couldn't get. The cup f broth spilt across the table but Kakashi left it where it was and went to aid Naruto. He slowly curled in upon himself as he tried to stop the harsh racking coughs so he could breathe, falling out of his chair as he did so. Kakashi caught him before he impacted with the floor but Naruto was not aware of anything but his need for air. His whole awareness narrowed down to forcing air into his battered lungs and the harsh barks that took it away before it could fill the damaged tissue. He coughed up splatters of blood as he tried desperately to breathe.

Kakashi wiped the blood away and slipped a breathing mask over his nose and mouth. He waited a few minutes rubbing Naruto's back as one does a small scared child. When it was clear the medicine was working as it was designed to, he uncurled Naruto's body so he could uncramp the strained muscles as medicine was pumped into his throat and lungs through the mask. This was not an unusual position for them any more. He massaged the abused muscles as they waited for the medicine to do it's job. "Don't worry, Naruto. He won't get within reach of doing his clan technique on you now. I won't let him."

From within his psyche Kyuubi assured her vessel, "And if he does I will make damn sure he does not leave with his mind intact. Nor will he get any information you do not want him to have about us or how long you have left."

Naruto relaxed as he heard both of them but he could do nothing about the tears that fell. He knew as well as Kakashi and Kyuubi did, Yamanaka Inoichi would get into his mind and he knew the man would live to regret it. And because of that he knew he had just lost another friend. Ino would hate him if something happened to her dad. All he could hope for was that Ino would not learn it was his mind her Otousan had entered and gotten hurt in.

Kakashi spent that night with Naruto trying to get him to relax and forget about the Yamanaka man but he knew something about the situation had Naruto upset and worried. He told him about Shikamaru working on the seal and deciphering every line and squiggle of it looking for any clue that would allow them to break the damn thing without killing him in the process.

Naruto smiled at that news. "If anyone can figure it out Shika can. He'll find an answer, Kashi. Maybe not in time for me but for the next person this happens to. But Kakashi, don't get so hooked on that hope. Kyuu and the others already tried to break it. They almost killed me releasing it. You need to face this, Kakashi. I am going to sleep soon."

Panic and denial were strong in Kakashi's eye as he tried to convince Naruto he could survive. "Don't talk like that, Naruto. Please. I can't lose you. I can't stand to even think about losing you. Everyone else is gone. But you're still here. I don't . . .I just. . ."

"Stop, Kashi. Maybe if Shika had gotten on this right after he did it, then hai. I would have had a chance. But he didn't and now it's too late. There's too much chakra built up behind the seal. And you know full well, sooner or later, I will sleep. And you know what will happen then. Promise me you will leave the village when I fall asleep. Promise me, you will seek a new life for yourself."

"I can't. I can't promise you that." The silver haired man said brokenly. "Everyone I ever had is here. No matter how much I want to leave, I can't. This is where my heart is, Naruto. It's where you are. It's where they are. I can't leave all of you behind like that."

Right then and there Naruto made a decision of his own. Later when he went into his meditative state he discussed it with Kyuubi and the other demons. He knew Kakashi would not long survive him and that it would to Kami be seen as a suicide if he did not interfere.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi all: Once again, Naruto is not my story. Nor are any of his companions or enemies. This story idea is mine though. I am hoping you are all like this story but until I get all of part one published for you I am not beginning part two. Honestly I am hoping those of you like the story, will let your imagination go wild and come up with ideas of your own for part two. I have a vague idea of what I want to do with the second half of the story but not enough to actually complete the second half. So come on people. Let me hear what you think.**

Thursday:

_Back to the story. It was only a few weeks later, I think, when Itachi and Kisame showed for me again. It may have been a little longer but I don't know. Like I said I had locked my awareness away deep inside my mind so I wouldn't have to feel things anymore. It hurt too much to feel. I was so weak and strung out though, I'm afraid I was in no shape to fight them. Jiraiya was gone . . .again. Maybe if he'd been around they would not have gotten me so easily but he wasn't and so they had no trouble capturing me. He'd taken the money I'd earned and disappeared the day before. I knew he would not show his face for at least another four possibly five days and by that time it would be too late. There would be no trace for him to follow. Not that I really believed he would care to follow me anyway. Sure I was the weapon of choice for the council but to him I was only a demon masquerading as his student's son and distorting their memories with my mockery. I was making it impossible for the village to properly mourn the pair and he hated me for it. The missions I had done would keep him in women and booze for at least that long. At least this time I was in a hotel room instead of sleeping on the ground. He'd long since sold my tent and sleeping bag for ryu. He had done that when I was supposedly learning those jutsu he thought demon appropriate. So the comfort of a room was really a luxury I appreciated. It beat the hard, cold ground and a blanket of fallen leaves any day of the week._

_Anyway, Itachi knocked me out and Kisame carried me, grumbling all the way. Itachi did his best to keep me unconscious on the trip but I am not easy to knock out for long. Like I said, though. I was not in a condition to fight them either. Because my mind had finally had enough and shut down, I wasn't able to work up the energy to care what new torment awaited me in their hands or the hands of their friends._

_So as they traveled, with me supposedly unconscious, I listened to what Kisame said. Itachi didn't talk much but Kisame more than made up for it. One part of the shark man hated what I was as much as anyone else fully human does but being a man with the features of a fish there was a part of him that understood too. He knew it was not my choice to become this abomination I now was. Jinchuuriki were not less human just because we held a seal on our persons and that seal held a demon imprisoned. But man could turn us into something disgusting and abnormal and both Kisame and Itachi knew that was what had occurred with me. Both had watched me growing up and both hoped I could escape the normal fate of the jinchuuriki. But I had not. I had lost a lot of weight as the torment of the missions I was doing to earn Jiraiya his loose women money took it's toll on me and I quit eating and sleeping. I had fangs now and thick claws in place of my fingernails and toenails. My shoes were long since gone, destroyed by the claws that continued to grow longer and thicker as I grew more and more used to using Kyuu's chakra in place of my own. My whisker scars were thicker and more defined now as well and my jaw and nose had grown more fox-like as well. Fine hairs covered my skin. The hair on my head was still as blond as ever but the hair on the rest of my body, except for my face was as red as any normal fox each strand was tipped in snow white granting an almost etheral glow to my skin. My face was clear of the fine hairs so that everyone could see the whisker scars and snout-like nose. Slowly but surely my body was warping to be more like the form Kyuu had used when she came to Konoha. We both had long since stopped looking into reflective surfaces, neither of us able to handle the change that was corroding who I was._

_I had always been small and undersized but never quite this thin. My height back then was just reaching five foot and one of my fondest memories was topping that magical weight of one hundred pounds. Gaining weight was nearly impossible for me due to the extremely large chakra pool I had and the high metabolism that burned through everything I ate as if I had never eaten at all. But before I left the village, it was my biggest hurdle and something I had thought would always be my hardest opponent._

_Thanks to Kakashi though I had finally gotten past the one hundred pound weight mark. I remembered I had been so happy. I_ _remembered Kakashi-Sensei laughing, really laughing, when he told me I weighed one hundred and three and a half pounds and I did my happy dance all around the exam room. We had taken to doing weekly checks on my weight because I was so very small compared to the other kids my age. I mean come on I was almost thirteen and the only kid I knew who didn't weigh over a hundred pounds by that time. I remembered even the nurse who had been recording my physical stats was laughing over my exuberance. Especially when Kakashi-Sensei told me I was gonna burn right through those pounds if I didn't settle down. I had stopped dancing immediately and gave him a look of such horror the nurse's laughter rang out loud enough to have people passing outside the room looking in to find out what was so funny. _

_But now, as I was carried on Kisame's back, I knew even without the scales I no longer weighed that precious weight. He carried me gingerly as if afraid too hard of a touch would break me. I knew I never would top that magical weight again. And both of them were worried about me. It was kind of silly since we all knew their group was planning to kill me as soon as we reached their base. Every few hours Itachi called for a break and tried to get me to eat something but the few times I tried, it came right back up. My stomach was damaged from the demon chakra and couldn't hold the foods he was trying to feed me. After one of our breaks he went and destroyed a section of the forest we were in giving silent testimony to his feelings. Kisame took to giving me lukewarm water with a dissolved nutrient pill in it. One little cup would last me all day since I could not take more than a sip at a time and no more than one sip an hour if they didn't want it coming back up._

_Anyway the night before we got to the Akatsuki Lair, Itachi waited until Kisame was asleep and then he spoke to me. He told me he knew I was awake and listening to everything but not to worry. It would soon be over. He told me he knew it would hurt to have the Kyuubi pulled from the seal but there just was no way to avoid that pain or they would. To the Akatsuki, the jinchuuriki were not demons as they were to their villages. We were human children subjected to the worst torment and tortures known to man. He knew we were people who led extremely lonely and hard lives because our villages were greedy and power mad. But because they only cared for the weapons they saw the demons as, the Akatsuki would set us, the humans, free from the demons we held in our seals and then they would make each ignorant, power-mad village regret what they had done to us. They would make each village a weapon from the demon's chakra and send it to the village in question. No village would have a weapon stronger than any other village's demon-made weapon but every village that had been home to, and mistreated, a jinchuuriki would get one and that weapon would destroy them down to the very bedrock of their foundation stones. And maybe, through the destruction, people would finally learn to get along. Itachi knew Akatsuki was planning something so horrifying the people who belonged to the group would suffer through all eternity. And while not all the members, like that stupid follower of Jashin, believed they would ever really die, Itachi knew he would. He knew he would die when Sasuke finally felt himself strong enough to kill him for his sins. He knew he was damned for the many lives he and his group ended_ _and would end in the future_ _but if it brought about the peace of a world in which man finally learned to leave hate behind than he would not regret his destiny. And, he said, I should not feel any remorse for those who would die when the weapon my demon would help them make killed them all. After all, they would not feel any remorse for what they had done and were doing to me. I had to admit in the privacy of my thoughts, he was right. Most the people in Konoha would not regret what was happening with me. Then he sent me into a deep sleep again and when I woke they were already doing the ritual to separate me from Kyuubi. I have no idea how long I was asleep or how he had managed to get me asleep in the first place but he did._

_Too bad they didn't actually talk to me any more than anyone else ever has. They may have known I was just as much a human being as the next person but they still failed in Life Lessons 101. When dealing with a person it helps to actually talk to them and treat them like they have a brain and can communicate intelligently. If they had, what happened to them might have been avoided. But not all of the group were people like Kisame and Itachi. Most the group was made up of the very same power-maddened fools like the ones that sat on Konoha's council or idiots like the follower of Jashin Itachi had mentioned to me. _

_But they really should have talked to me before trying to extract Kyuu from me. You see, they knew my seal was different and a lot more complex than any other jinchuuriki's had been. While I had been asleep they had examined my seal. They had also found the seal Jiraiya put on me but they left it alone figuring it would only help them not to have to go through my chakra fighting their attempts to pull Kyuubi from me. They found nothing in that seal to explain why those attempts did not succeed but that was because none of them were seal masters. In the end they concluded the_ _reason for the complexity of my seal was only due to the number of tails Kyuubi had. To them, Yondaime hated me as much as the villagers did who had kept trying to kill me while I was growing up. And that was where they made the biggest mistake of their lives. _

_They were wrong. Very wrong. Yondaime did not hate me. He did not see me as a useless child no one would miss if I gave in to the power of the demon. He loved me. He loved me more than he had ever loved anyone and wanted me to have a real life. And he made my seal to reflect that. In his eyes I was the more important part of the matrix. Not the demon. He made it so my will overrides the demon's every time. He made it so what I feel the demon feels every single time. He made it so my thoughts become the demons thoughts to a degree or at least understandable to the demon. He knew Demons only know pain and hate. He knew they are viscous and bloodthirsty killers because that is all they know. He knew they were solitary hunters who only interact when it is time to spawn a new demon and then it is, more often than not, a viscous fight to the death for_ _the right to be a part of shaping the new demon. And he knew how corrosive demon chakra is. So because he also knew of my healing bloodline I got from my Kaasan, he factored that into my seal. My seal made me the teacher of the Kyuubi more than any other jinchuuriki to have ever lived before me. _

_If the Akatsuki had talked to me I could have told them I was the one jinchuuriki in the world who could have survived once they pulled Kyuubi from me if they took off the chakra blocker Seal Jiraiya put on me. I could also have told them Kyuubi would not allow them to separate her from me as that would kill me and condemn me to an eternity as a part of her. But they did not talk to me and so they did not know what they were doing. _

_Yondaime made my seal so I could teach Kyu what she needed to learn and so she would not destroy me in the process. But he never meant for me to use her chakra as my own. That's why the seal had a feedback loop in it. If she tried to feed me too much chakra, it would loop back on her at double the strength and she would get hurt from it instead of me. But when Jiraiya had blocked my chakra and gotten me missions no genin should ever do, we knew we had to alter the seal or we would die. So we did. Yondaime also knew the Kyuubi would need to learn from me if it was to evolve to the next stage in it's evolution and he really thought I could do a good job of teaching her if the village would only let me live and believe in me._

_No, I am not going to tell you what her next evolutionary stage is. Figure it out for yourself. After all, I did and everyone says I'm nothing but an idiot loser. Surely you're smarter than a deadlast broken weapon of hate and malice._

_Anyway, when they began to pull the Kyuubi from me everything went to hell in a handbasket for them. Because I did not wish to destroy the village and everyone in it, neither did_ _Kyuubi. Because I had been showing her compassion and teaching her, through using it, what it was, she was unable to believe the other teens who had lost their lives to this group were any different than I was. And as I said earlier, there was no way in hell she was voluntarily going to let them kill me. _

_She let them pull her far enough from the seal to have enough chakra floating in the air to do what she wished to and then bam! She struck with the fury only a real demon can strike. A lance of blood-red chakra went into every single eye on the gross statue that loomed over everything and everyone in the chamber. And that statue was really gross looking. Ugly if I ever did see ugly. Much uglier than Sakura could ever be and I thought she was one of the ugliest people I had ever seen in my life. A second beam of her chakra went to every lay point of the seal array the Akatsuki had drawn on the floor, walls and ceiling of the cavern we were in and overloaded the matrix, causing the seal to explode and send it's own beams of chakra out to those who had drawn it and were now attempting to use it to kill me and capture Kyuubi. _

_The chakra, that spilled from the broken array, clearly belonged to the Akatsuki and I have to say I finally discovered Uchiha are capable of expressing emotions on their faces just like anyone else. At least, they are when the emotions are surprise and total abject horror. Itachi's position on the statue's hands was close enough to me I had a clear view of his face when everything went up in smoke. And when that chakra came bursting forth from the array he could not contain his surprise. When instead of heading for me, as it was supposed to, it separated into individual strands and headed for the_ _Akatsuki, that surprise turned to horror. _

_Apparently, every time they did an extraction, some of their chakra would remain in the matrix for the next time it was needed and when the array was again activated that stored chakra would act as a buffer strengthening them against the jinchuuriki and their stored demon. That's how, no matter how fresh and strong the jinchuuriki and their demon had been, the Akatsuki was always able to overcome them and defeat them. The Akatsuki fed their chakra into the matrix. The matrix strengthened and buffered it before sending it out towards the Jinchuuriki held powerless in the center of the matrix. Understand now why they saw no problem with a seal that blocked off my chakra while not impeding Kyuubi's? But like I said, they really should have talked to me before they tried to extract Kyuubi. All they did by going about it the way they did was insure their own ends because they pissed her off._

_Kyuubi freed her fellow demons and invited them to join her in destroying this place I was_ _held in. The freed demons joined Kyuubi with glee as each of them wanted revenge against the group also. They took great delight in overloading the matrix and destroying the statue down to the smallest molecule. Several times I thought I heard a human name echo through the dusty smoke that was beginning to cause me to cough and choke. And I thought it might be a particular demon looking for the child they had called host or dedicating some destroyed section to that person or something. I'm not sure to this day if I really heard anything of the sort._

_I do know I saw a riot of colors swirling around the chamber, nauseating in the numerous shades and tones and people on stone hands dropped to their knees too stunned to even cry out as they died from an overload of their own chakra. Kyuu was still connected to me through the seal and she realized my breathing was becoming too labored due to the dust and debris in the air. She sent some of her chakra to create a bubble of clear air around me. The bubble filtered the incoming air clearing the dust and debris from it so I would have pure air to breathe. _

_Mean while the part of her that was outside the seal was still helping her fellow demons destroy the lair. The demons, represented as masses of chakra, sped through the entire cave system looking for anyone who was not in the main chamber. They found several trying to flee and struck out at them, striking them down where they stood. The ones in the main room were held in place as their own chakra stored in the matrix fed back into their bodies and destroyed them from the inside out. Each demon chose the person responsible for the capture of their own host and those who had not been bound lent their aid in holding whoever had been the partner or had not taken part in the kidnap and capture of the jinchuuriki. And as each member of the Akatsuki died the demons took their revenge in full measure, entering the bodies of the men and sole woman to destroy that which had made them a fit person for this group of criminals. _

_Itachi was the last to die and only I saw the smile on his face as Kyuubi sent a lance into both his eyes, burning out his sharingan. I knew she had done that because she did not want_ _anyone to take his sharingan from his corpse and because I did not want him to die by Sasuke's hands no matter how much Sasuke might wish to kill him. And I knew she was more merciful to him than she was to Kisame because he honestly did believe he was doing something that would bring peace to the world while Kisame simply didn't want any more monsters made from human children._

_For days, I lay there in the center of the chamber as the earth grumbled and roared it's_ _displeasure and the demons destroyed the work the Akatsuki had done. I don't know how long I lay there in the chamber but with Kyuubi partially out of my body I couldn't move. I was tethered to that spot until she either broke all the way free or came all the way back into the degrading seal. Yeah, my seal was breaking down due to the ceremony the Akatsuki had begun and the weakness of my own body and mind. _

_The demons wanted to make sure even if someone, that knew the goals of the group, did survive there was no way in hell they could ever do something like this again. Then Kyuubi re-entered my seal and began to undo the block Jiraiya had placed on my own chakra. That's when we found out it really wasn't possible to take it off me. As soon as she began to unravel it I began to suffer a chakra overload as my own chakra tried to flood out of the seal he had slammed on me. She called out to her fellows to help her save me and undid her work at unraveling that pesky seal. The other demons came to her call and out of respect, I think, to their own human vessels flowed into my seal. They acted as a block for the flood of chakra that was doing it's level best to overload me. Some of it they absorbed and some they let trickle through. Kyuubi left a little wider opening in the seal than Jiraiya had done but she couldn't leave it too wide or I'd constantly be getting the overload thing until I finally died from poisoning via my own chakra._

_When it was over, Shukaku asked if I could return him to his vessel so he could repay the boy for all the harm he had caused him when the crazy monk had been a part of their badly_ _screwed up excuse of a seal. All the demons had sent tendrils of themselves into my seal and there was nothing I could do about it. But I also wasn't about to complain since if they hadn't I never would have returned home. But having all of them to one degree or another is what finally broke my seal beyond repair and is causing my death now. Too much demon chakra it was never designed to hold. Simple isn't it. But no matter what I will not turn them over to the Council to seal away inside other children who can not say yea or nay to becoming what they will make from them. And regardless of what they might say to the contrary I know damn well my life, and soon death, has taught them nothing. They are still just as stupid and arrogant as they ever were._

_But I am not unhappy things went the way they did. I was able to see my friend smile. I did return Shukaku to Gaara and the two are learning now to get along the way Kyuubi learned to_ _get along with me. Because Gaara and I are ninja as well as jinchuuriki, nightmares are a fact of life for us but Shukaku spent the time in my seal listening to and asking questions of Kyuubi and I so he would know more and be a better aid to Gaara and now he knows to take those nightmares from Gaara before they can disturb his rest. Gaara will be all right now because he has Shukaku back and the demon will do anything he can to protect Gaara now just as once he did everything he could think of to destroy him. And he will help Gaara to live. Really live his life. And that is all anyone can ask for in a friend or for a friend._

_But I . . .I am dying. Even if Shukaku had been the only extra demon to enter my seal, I would still be dying now. Heck, if I am honest, I would still be dying even if none of the other demon chakra in that chamber had entered my seal. The process I had undergone during those two and a half years or so under Jiraiya had eroded my will, my strength of mind, to the point that the seal was not as strong as it needs to be to protect my body and mind from the effects of demon chakra. Because my mind broke under the strain of what he was making me do and the way he was making me do it, I am the one who can not sleep now. And my body is not physically strong enough to last for long without real rest. I don't say anything but I very rarely ever keep the simple plain broth I drink in my system these days and I am coughing up more and more blood every day as I struggle to breathe. I know I need to sleep. But I can not._

_If I do, all my nightmares will be acted out in my body and form. The people will think I really have turned against them and all their fears of me all my life will be justified. Thank you for undoing years of hard work and sacrifice, Jiraiya. I know beyond any doubt this will happen if I_ _sleep and so I do not, I will not sleep now. I have killed and/or turned more than one person into a vegetable while I was technically asleep. So now that I am home, I must protect my precious people no matter what anyone says they deserve. And because of that I no longer will allow myself the luxury of sleep even though Kyuubi is trying to convince me she will make sure the other demons do not do that sort of thing again._

Once again Naruto set down his pen, too tired to write any more. Kakashi slipped into position behind him trying to support Naruto's weight and hide his dismay over the feel of the small bones poking and protruding from underneath the light pajamas Naruto now wore all the time. He simply didn't have the physical strength to move much any more and if his clothes were too heavy it seemed to take more energy than he had to simply cross the room to the bathroom. Not to mention the soft material of the pajamas was more soothing to his overly sensitive skin. They had found he was scratching himself raw because his regular clothes caused him to itch and break out in a rash.

"Kashi? Why are you here so soon? Don't you have a mission to do?"

"No, Naruto. Tsunade has given me leave until you either get well again or go to sleep. She did her best to heal you today but she said your chakra is so low now and so is your weight, she wanted someone with you at all times now."

"I see. Hai, I am close. Soon I will sleep. I am so tired but I must finish the story. I must leave a message for those who will want to know why."

Kakashi just held the boy he had come to love so very much and tried not to cry at the thought of losing him. His voice was so very faint now he had to send chakra to his ears to hear him. And he had noticed the vomiting had risen again. He had seen the blood filled tissues in the trash cans, silent proof the healing Tsunade had done was not working any more. But he said nothing knowing Naruto didn't want him to worry for him. But in his mind he cursed Jiraiya and the council. In his head he cursed everyone who had a hand in taking Naruto from him too soon. His son/brother/other half. Whatever you wanted to call Naruto to him. He hated he was losing him like this and he hated he could do nothing to stop it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi All: Sorry this is so late. I got kind of busy and forgot this needed posting. Anyway I don't own Naruto, Kakashi or anyone to do with their world. They are probably eternally gratiful for that though given how much I really like to mess with their heads and bodies. But oh well. Here's today's installment. Hope you enjoy it.**

Friday:

_My story is almost complete now and though I haven't told Kashi this, the facts are when I finish it, I will sleep. Finishing this is the only reason I am still awake. Kyuu is helping to keep me awake now and it's taking both of us to do it. The temptation to sleep is just so great. But every story needs an ending and that includes this one._

_When the pull to sleep is too strong, I have my former Sensei to lean on. He does his best_ _to help me stay awake. He is sacrificing his sanity for me but we both know there is no other way. We both know if I sleep, I will die but when I do a lot of people in Konoha will never wake up again and a lot of others are going to wish they never had. So he helps me stay awake in any way he can. Sometimes we play cards, sometimes we simply talk or go for a short walk while we talk. Well, it's short for him but quite long for me these days. My muscles are so worn down they can barely support me now. Other times we don't leave the bedroom. Most the time we don't leave the bedroom. I don't have the energy or the strength to do so. I rarely ever even leave my bed. _

_It's embarrassing but he carries me, more often than not, and supports me when I need to use the bathroom. He cares for me because I can not care for myself and yet I don't want to die in the hospital like the invalid I am either. Call it stupid misplaced pride if you want to but I just can't handle all the people I know who will gawk at me when they see me now. I have gone from the one hundred three and a half pounds I used to be to a sixty pound weakling and I know if the scars and disfiguring marks of using too much of Kyuu's chakra isn't enough to make them stare, my weight will be. So I do not want to go there._

_He never leaves my side now. I think he knows I will sleep soon and doesn't want me to sleep alone. He knows why I don't want to leave the apartment and says he understands but I see him cry sometimes. I never let him know I see it. He is not a man who likes to admit he has emotions still. He's been a ninja for so long and done so much that he long since shut his emotions away just to keep from going insane from the grief and torment of his own feelings over his actions. I wish I could say what weighs on him now was the effect of having locked away those emotions and feelings but it isn't and both he and I know it._

_What weighs on him now has nothing to do with his past missions. What weighs him down now has more to do with guilt. Guilt because he did not try to find out the truth behind_ _Jiraiya taking me on a three year training mission without him or anyone else. Just as he once told me Sakura broke the team nindo in never learning to care for me and quite clearly Sasuke broke it as well when he not only ran away from us but actually tried to kill me, Kashi feels he broke it by not seeing the Underneath of the Underneath in that order and since it was his nindo before he tried to make it our nindo he feels guilt that is not his. He says it was his responsibility to check because he knew Jiraiya had already tried to kill me once before when he taught me to summon the Toad Boss. _

_Oh yeah. I didn't tell you guys about that did I. Oh well. Jiraiya threw me off a cliff into a never ending chasm in order to force me to use Kyuubi's chakra so I would have enough and it would be powerful enough chakra to call Gamabunta from his own realm. Luckily, he had not put his own seal on me at the time because we were still in the village and Jijii was still alive then. But I have no doubt he would have if he had thought he'd get away with it alive. Truth is he knew Jijii would kill him for it and that was only if Kashi didn't do it first._

_But back to my Kashi. He feels guilty because it never occurred to him to question what kind of training the pervert would give me. No matter how hard I try, I can't convince him it isn't his fault. My Kashi has always been here for me watching over me and helping me whenever he could. He was the one that taught me the henge I used to eventually come up with my Sexy Jutsu that everyone insists is useless. Morons really need to stop thinking with their libidos and start thinking with their brains. Damn idiots. My clones aren't weak little things that break with a strong breeze and a stick. I create a clone, it stays until I send it away or it runs out of chakra. So if I create one, henge it into that girl and send her to infiltrate someplace for something. . . Now just what do you think is going to happen? Useless my foot. Kashi was also the one there the night Mizuki betrayed the village. He helped me learn that clone technique that I used to upgrade my Sexy Jutsu into the Harem jutsu. But he taught me so much more than those two jutsu. He taught me to read and laugh and play as well. He held me when I simply needed to cry but was too afraid to do so. When fear kept me awake he sat beside me keeping the fears at bay. My Kashi was always there for me. _

_Because of this, even when things were at their darkest, I never did think he had betrayed me. But no matter what, I can't convince Kashi of that. I know he would have fought for me if he had suspected Jiraiya hated me that much. He would have done whatever he could to have kept me safe from this but he didn't know. And if he had found out what Jiraiya did to me, he would have come for me no matter what the village told him. But they didn't want him to know. Him or Baa-chan and both of them are tearing themselves up over it. I see it in their eyes and in their posture. Both of them wanted me to outlive them but I am not going to and we all know it._

_Baa-chan comes by every day now. She tries so hard to hide her tears while feeding me_ _her chakra and trying to get the weak broth that is all my system can hold into my body. Well, used to be able to hold. It doesn't stay down now but I do my best to hide that from them both. They don't need to know just how close sleep really is right now. She and Kashi together give me a bath every day and both have bought me new pajamas so I'll be comfortable and clean when I sleep. I've never had clothes this nice before. They even got them in orange so I can smile when I put them on knowing I will sleep as I lived. Bright and happy spreading a smile even to those who don't want to smile about anything. Neither one of them has given up but I can see in their eyes they know the truth._

_They know it's too late. The damage is done and can not be undone. I don't want to lose him. I don't want to lose her either but I know I will. Where I am going they can not follow me. Not yet anyway. And in a way, I hope they never do. Maybe it's childish but they're my Baa-chan and Kashi. Like any kid, I want them to live forever and I want them to be happy. He is my gentle moon always shining down on me, believing in me and encouraging me to give it everything I have and never douting I can do anything I set my mind to doing. She is my warrior going to bat for me and knocking all the idiots out of my way so I can climb any obstacle and overcome any defeat they try to hand me. But this is a defeat I can't beat and what I have left to give to the fight, it just isn't enough to win now. _

_So this is good-bye. I hope you understand now. Please do not hate me because I fell asleep and so many had to die as a result. I did my best to fight but it wasn't enough. Take care of my warrior and my gentle moon. Care for my precious people as I would if I were still here and don't hate them. Those who were too stupid to think for themselves or see beyond the illusion of their own dreams of glory and power. But most of all, find your own precious people and fight for them as I fought for mine. And when you find them, be sure you tell them how you feel about them. Life is short and very precious. Don't waste it._

Naruto set down his pen slowly. It almost fell from his grasp as the book settled on his lap. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the pillows of his bed trying to work up the energy to set the book and pen back on his nightstand. He knew he should meditate until Kakashi got back but it was just so comfortable to just sit here.

Kakashi was kneeling by the black monument stone mentally speaking to the ghosts of his past telling them his feelings and tortured thoughts regarding the struggle he was going through to try and find a way to save Naruto. A lot of people were struggling to try and find a solution to what was happening with Naruto and not all of them were doing it to save him. Those who knew, and had learned to care about, the person he was, were looking to save him because he was precious to them. Others were looking to find a solution to save themselves. The council were looking because they wanted to have the weapon around for a lot longer than it seemed Naruto was going to last.

And after Inoichi's invasion of his mind, they now knew Naruto truly was dying. The damage in his mindscape had been so extensive it could not be denied. Inoichi had retained a grip on his own mind just long enough to tell the council when Naruto died they would all die with him. Then he'd lost control of his voice and his sanity. No one knew why he'd lost control of himself but it was undeniable he had. They had locked him up in one of his own room at the hospital under twenty-four hour a day supervision. His daughter was one of his most frequent visitors as she tried to fix what was wrong with him so he could continue to do his job and be her Daddy.

But the Council still did not see Naruto as a person first and a human jailor second. To them, he was only a weapon more powerful and destructive than any ever known to the world of man. They could not understand why he had allowed the other demons to enter his seal as he had and weaken it to the point where he could no longer sleep without losing control over his body and mind. They didn't understand it wasn't the fear of the demons that kept him awake as much as it was them acting out his nightmare scapes on the general populace. Nightmares he wouldn't be having if they had just once seen him for the boy he was instead of the weapon they wanted him to be. But they did understand finally what the cost of his death would be to them personally.

Oh they were glad when he had returned to the village six months ago after having been missing for two years. They'd been really pissed off with Jiraiya when he had returned alone to report Naruto captured by unknown assailants those two and a half years ago. The whole village knew the Akatsuki had him because the group had sent them a message telling them the last of the jinchuuriki was now in their hands and a warning of what was to come. But Jiraiya had snorted and dismissed their anger and the proof of their belief.

So having Naruto, a very thin and clearly unhealthy Naruto, showing up at the main gate of the village had been a welcome sight for everyone. No one had expected to ever see him again. None of the other jinchuuriki had ever escaped from the group once they had been captured. But everyone who knew Naruto shook their heads and grinned as they remarked to each other how they should have known he'd find a way to get free. The observant ones however had seen the cost of his escape in how he walked and talked. They saw the heavy toll in the language of his body he could not hide and the tattered clothes that barely covered his privates from exposure. In the long claw-like nails and protruding snout that held long fangs and was framed by very deep and apparent whisker marks. In the shaggy, reddish blond hair that covered his skin in a light but clearly visible dusting and the more pointed and twitching ears that poked from the matted and rough looking golden blond hair that had once been so very soft to the touch.

Tsunade had tried to insist he go to the hospital for treatment but he refused shocking everyone when he said it was a place for pure humans. Not abominations like him and turned to make his way to his old apartment building instead. Kakashi remembered he had fallen into step beside him just to be sure he got there ok and to find out what was behind that comment and his appearance. The Naruto he knew, knew he was just as human as anybody else. But the Naruto he had known had not been through what this kid had been. Tsunade had fallen into step on his other side reaching out to grasp his elbow when he would sway and stumble. Kakashi noticed he was blinking his eyes a lot and losing focus with them as the lids would droop. He would shake and shiver every few steps as he struggled to keep going. He had shared a look with Tsunade to see if she had noticed it as well. She had but they were both surprised when he said he needed for her to send for Gaara as quickly as possible. There was no way, he said, he could manage to make it to Sand Village before he slept and he had something that belonged to the red-head. They had asked what and he had told them in a tired, rough and clearly unused voice that was more dead than alive.

Tsunade and Kakashi had spent the next three days at his side, listening as he brokenly told his story of the last seven years and the torment he had been through. Shock and dismay filled them as they had realized he had no idea how long he had been away. They realized he thought he had only been gone for three years at the most. Tears fell for the first time as they had listened to him vomit everything he tried to eat or drink since his return. They had watched as even a sip of water had caused his mouth to bleed and there was nothing they could do as even talking brought forth the blood. Tsunade healed him every time he got sick, every time he spit up blood and tissue from a ruined throat or a torn up mouth but there was not a lot she could do if he would not go to the hospital short of bringing the hospital to him. In the end, that's exactly what she did do. His bed was replaced with one specially made for long term care patients who had sensitive skin issues. A respirator was set up next to his bed and a portable was left in his kitchen so he didn't have to stay in his bed the whole time.

The Council though. They were overjoyed to have their weapon back and clearly in full knowledge of what he was to them. And when they discovered he had brought tendrils of the other demons with him they had been ecstatic. Immediately, they had gone into a flurry of activity to try and find a way to get those tendrils into other newborns to create new weapons. He had brought the other demon chakra of every known tailed demon in the world into their reach and they wanted to make weapons from each and every one of them. If they could they would even remove the Kyuubi from him and slam her into another newborn. But they had could not figure out how to get those chakra to leave him and enter a new host now that Naruto was back in the village. Well, they could but Naruto had to agree to the transfers and he would not. They needed his agreement so only one demon chakra would go to each newborn and only he could make sure that was what happened.

Their greed insisted they not give up though and so they kept trying to present infants to Naruto for his approval. Naruto would only snort and walk off without saying a word. He knew he would never either. No matter what the council thought Naruto would never voluntarily give them another child to mistreat as they had mistreated him and he knew they would do to those children exactly what they had done to him.

And from the few conversations Kakashi had held with Kyuubi, when Naruto would consent to enter a meditative state to rest his mind, the demons were in agreement with Naruto. They would not transfer to another host either. The only one that would was Shukaku and that was because his former host was still alive. Naruto had saved him and Shukaku had a debt to repay the redheaded boy he had tormented for so many years.

But the rest of the demons would not be leaving Naruto. All of them were in agreement on the issue. Naruto needed them right where they were. They were regulating the flow of his own natural chakra and trying to direct as much of it as they could to healing the severe injuries done to him over the years from the forced use of Kyuubi's chakra. But in the process of directing it they were also tainting it no matter how hard they worked not to. In addition to that they were each trying to hold Kyuubi's seal together to keep it from degrading to the point where she and they had no choice but to flee Naruto's form. With the seal that blocked his own natural chakra flow, they had explained to Kakashi, Naruto would die if Kyuubi and they were forced from his seal. If even one of them left him he would die. So at the most those stupid power-mad fools would only get one of them and that child would not live as long as Naruto had. Because Naruto was the last of his line and none of those children had what he had been born with. A healing factor that kicked butts and took names after the fact and a good heart.

But they also made it clear they had seen his memories and they did not like what they saw. Even those who had not had a vessel before they were caught by the Akatsuki, did not like what they saw in his memories. Demons did not mistreat children they told Kakashi and that man did was just inconceivable to them. When Naruto died they would help Kyuubi extract revenge for his life and then they would desert this plane of existence for their own realm. Once they did, they would never return here again. The world of the human, where even children were allowed to be mistreated and abused, sometimes even killed, was beyond evil to them. So no matter how nice of a vacation spot it seemed to be, no demon would ever again visit this realm unless it was to destroy it. On their way out of this realm they would take those children they saw being mistreated with them. They would shelter and protect them as all children should be and never let them return to such an abusive hell hole as the realm of man and with them, the children would learn how to treat each other and how to treat their young.

So even though Naruto's seal was always painstakingly drawn onto the bellies of the infants they presented to Naruto to house the demon chakra foreign to his seal, he would not agree to the transfer and the council knew they could not do it without his agreement. They tried to get Kakashi and Tsunade to talk him into it explaining to them both they felt they could save Naruto if he would just consent to assigning the chakra to other host bodies. But neither person would help them. The fact that the council called those babies 'Host Bodies' said it all to the duo and they knew Naruto and the demons were correct. The council would use the new children every bit as badly as they had used Naruto. Danzo was livid over the young man's refusal to cooperate but his hands were tied. As weak as Naruto was, he could not have him tortured without further deteriorating the seal if it didn't just kill him straight out. And threatening someone else with torture would not work either because that would be just as destructive to his slipping control if Danzo happened to find someone Naruto actually cared enough about to even consider the procedure.

"Kakashi," asked Tsunade kneeling down beside him. "How is he today?"

"Dying," the silver haired man whispered. "He's so weak now he rarely leaves his bed. All he does is sit there and write in that journal I gave him or meditate. You know that, Hokage-sama. You're there every day now so I know you know how close he is to leaving us. I was just here to tell his Otousan he's coming home. I. . .I think. . . he'll sleep tonight. He didn't even want me to give him a bath this morning, he's so tired now." He glanced at the stone, more grief in his single visible eye than she could ever remember seeing in any two pair of eyes before.

"Kyuubi said the demons are working on something though. She said he doesn't deserve this or his fate once this body finally does break. So they are working on something she thinks can stop it. I hope she's right. I don't know how long I'll make it without him. These last seven years were hard enough and the last two he was gone were nearly too much for me. But I had hope then. He was Naruto, the number one most surprising unpredictable ninja in the world. If anyone could make it he could. This though. This is different. This time there isn't any hope. This time I am seeing him die with my own eyes. I can see his chakra building up behind that damn seal with my sharingan and there's nothing I or the demons can do about it. If he doesn't sleep soon, he'll die anyway when that chakra blows through that damn seal. I hate Jiraiya so much for doing this to him. Make sure he pays for Naruto's death, Tsunade. Please. Don't let him get away with killing our Naruto."

"I won't, Kakashi. He will die a most horrible and painful death. But I do not want Naruto to know of it so I will wait until Naruto sleeps before I order his execution."

He was quiet for a bit before he spoke again. "You know, he really doesn't know how long he was gone killing for Jiraiya and being robbed by him. He doesn't know how long the Akatsuki had him. He thinks he was only there for a couple of days instead of the two years they worked to try and get the Kyuubi out of him. Nor does he know that group are the real reason it's dangerous for him to sleep now. Kyuubi and the others. . .they didn't enter his seal to destroy him, Hokage-sama. They did it to help him. Itachi and that Madara guy unleashed all his nightmares against him to keep him from interfering while they took Kyuubi from him. Kyuubi needed the others to help her get them all locked back up again. And because she tried to break the seal Jiraiya put on him she needed their help to keep his chakra from killing him as it tried to flood back into his coils. They entered his seal to absorb and block his chakra while she repaired the seal so he wouldn't die. Their entering his Kyuubi seal did erode it more but it was already weak and ready to collapse. Kyuubi knew he wanted to die here though. So she convinced them to help her get him back here. They agreed and have helped her regulate the two seals and keep them intact. They're taking as much of his chakra as they can into themselves so it isn't there building up behind that seal he gave him. It's all they really can do now but you know. It's a pretty sad day when Demons fight harder for the life of a mortal human boy than his own people do."

"Yeah. Who'd have thought a demon had more compassion than a human being," Tsunade said, staring at the engraved names on the black rock in front of them.

His voice choked on a sob he refused to let go and he took a few deep breaths to get control again. "Kyuubi told them she wanted to get him back here so he could die where he wanted to die. She showed them his life. Every single bit of it. All the pain and torment he went through. Every good thing he felt or had been a part of. All of it and told them she had to get him back here so he could die where his heart is. The extra demon chakra isn't very much at all really. His body was so weak already he couldn't take very much of them. Even Shukaku didn't fully enter his seal. He just sent enough in to be a tether so he could be pulled back here until Naruto could reach Gaara and let Shukaku transfer to him. Too much of their chakra, either combined or individually, and they would have turned him into a new demon such as one this world has never before seen and never would again. Kyuubi said he'd be a demon to shape this world though and no man would ever be able to withstand his reign. And while it would have made her very proud to have had a hand in making him one of her own for real, she knew it would not be what he wanted. She said he would have spent the rest of his eternal life hating what had happened and blaming himself for not being stronger. So she refused to let the other demons turn him."

He gave a soft smile as he told Tsunade, "He doesn't know that though. Kyuubi knows him well enough to know what to hide from him and what to let him know. She's the mother he never knew he needed. She protects him. She always has. Ever since she first woke up to find him dying of a corrosive acid mixed with ground up glass fragments. It's why she calls him Kit. To her, he is her child just as if she herself had birthed him even though she knows he's not a demon as she is. He taught her to care. He taught her to love and to cherish individuals for their differences and their special qualities. Because she was imprisoned in him, because she got to know him, she will be a better leader for her people now. And that was the purpose of his seal, I guess."

"I vaguely remember that incident that woke her up. He was three and someone slipped it into his breakfast gruel at the orphanage. They thought it would be funny to watch him die that way. And that was when we found out how far the council would go to stop us from seeing to it he was treated normally. They wouldn't even let us investigate to find out who had done it so the person was never caught and never punished for it." Again he stopped talking and Tsunade was glad because it gave her time to get over the rage of wanting to go find that person and feed them gruel laced with acid and glass but she wouldn't bother to grind the glass up first.

When he began to speak again she had to scramble to focus on what he was saying. "Kyuubi knew he would not want to be the new demon that plagued our world. So she limited how much of themselves the others poured into her home. The only one he fully brought back was Shukaku. But he knew Gaara missed the sand raccoon even if he says he doesn't. Shukaku had been a part of Gaara and was a connection to his dead Kaasan. According to Kyuubi, living without their demon for a jinchuuriki is like a normal person losing a limb and not being able to replace it. Only worse because it's a whole person and not just a limb. It's something you know was a part of you and never will be again but it could talk to you, reason with you and advise you. It could help you by seeing things you couldn't see, hear things you couldn't hear or make sense of things you simply weren't old enough or worldly enough to understand yet." He shook his head, tiredly. He gazed at the stone again and set his gloved fingers against Minato's name before standing up slowly. He swayed some when he was standing again and Tsunade steadied him until his head stopped spinning.

"You need rest, too, Kakashi. You're not going to be able to keep this up for much longer if you don't get some sleep yourself soon."

"I know. It doesn't matter though. If he makes it through today, he doesn't have more than a few more days anyway," he whispered. "I promised him and I'll keep my word. I promised him I'd be there when he falls asleep and I will be. I can sleep when he does, Hokage-sama. But I won't let him go to sleep alone."

"He's lasted longer than I thought he would when he came stumbling through the gate covered in bloody tatters and suffering so much," she said silent tears tracking down her face. "I'm going to send for his friends to come home so they can see him."

"No!" Kakashi nearly shouted his alarm was so great. "He requested they not be here because he doesn't want them hurt when the demons take over. He doesn't even like it that you and I are still here. Don't make his guilt even worse."

She sighed. "I know, Kakashi but they deserve a chance to say good-bye to him. I can send them back out once they have done so but to deny them the chance to tell him how they feel. . ."

He shook his head. "There isn't enough time for them to get here before he dies anyway, Hokage-sama. I meant it when I said I thought he would sleep tonight. But even if he resists it tonight, he doesn't have more than a few days left. That was being optimistic. If you know they were a true friend of his, do not send for them until after the Demons have acted out their retribution," he said walking slowly back towards Naruto's apartment. She watched him go knowing most the group had already been sent summons to return home at their best speed. Sakura's group should be arriving within the hour. She had, much to the cherry haired girl's disgust, sent them out to get information from Sand about seals and what the ninja there knew about them. And Hinata's group would probably not get here until tomorrow evening at the earliest being the farthest away.

When Kakashi returned to the apartment Naruto was nodding on his bed. The journal was closed and laying on his lap. Every time his head would fall forward his chin smacked sharply on his ribcage and he'd jerk his head back up, snapping his eyes open in the process. But Kakashi knew sleep was not far off. Each time it took longer for him to lift his head and his eyes opened slower and not as fully. Still, as Kakashi crossed to his side and sat down pulling the tired blond into his arms, Naruto recognized who was holding him.

"Kashi. . ." he breathed out. "I'm so tired. . .I want. . .to sleep. . .so bad. Wake me up, Kashi. Please. Don't let me sleep. . ."

Tears fell from Kakashi's eyes as he held the sleep-talking blond he had failed to protect. He knew the boy who would forever be nothing more than a golden blond in his eyes was already asleep. He picked up the journal and set it on the bedside table before slowly making Naruto as comfortable as he could on his bed knowing Naruto would never wake up again. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I was supposed to protect you. I was supposed to be sure people like Jiraiya never got their greedy hands on you. I failed you."

"No, Kakashi," said a deeper voice he recognized as Kyuubi. "Make a chakra enforced copy of that book and set the copy on the table. Take the original and place it in his hands. Naruto is falling into a deep sleep now. There is no time for more than a few words so listen closely. I want you to lay him flat on the bed and then lay down next to him. Keep a hold of him and no matter what, do not let go. We are going to send you both somewhere else. It's the only way to save his soul. You'll feel our chakra and it will hurt. A lot. But that can't be helped if we are to save him and he will not want to lose you. Worry for you keeps him tethered here. That's why we are sending you with him. Don't ask us where you are going. We honestly don't know. All we can do is send you out there. Where you end up is the decision of the Timewalker. When you have gone, I and one of my companions will go with you. That is also not something that can be altered or avoided. Without a demon to stabilize you, you would be torn apart, atom by atom. The rest will stay here to do what must be done. He may forgive but we do not believe in leaving a debt unpaid. Forgiveness is really a strange concept. .." The demon sounded highly confused over that issue but then she resumed her instructions. Clearly forgiveness was one lesson Naruto had not yet had time to teach her. "Now when you wake up, wherever the Timewalker sends us, there will be changes you will notice right off the bat. Our chakra is going to have an effect on you. Both of you. There's nothing we can do about that but we will try our best to make sure the changes are not too radical for you both. And you will have a seal like his for the demon that accompanies us."

"So I will be a jinchuuriki like he is?"

"Hai. It's the only way you can go with him. Speak up now if the thought of hosting a demon in a seal is more than you can handle. But remember the seal he received for me is unique and, because it is his seal we are copying for you, you will have the chance to do for another of my kind what he has done for me. Once we begin this, it'll be too late to change your mind. One of the things my comrade's chakra will be doing is inscribing Naruto's seal onto you with a minor change to use his chakra for your healing since you do not have healing chakra where Naruto does and to accommodate for that other chakra source you have. Oh and don't worry about this reality. Not everyone or everything is going to be destroyed as Naruto believes. Some of the demons will protect those who deserve protection and places Naruto did not suffer. Konoha will still stand, Kakashi. Those demons will also protect those who were special to you. We do know who they are, Kakashi, and we will not hurt them even if they once hurt Naruto."

"Some of my friends did hurt him. I know they did but still, while I hated the way they saw him, I could not hate them." He shook his head tiredly. He had been awake for the last three days not wanting to drift off in case it sent Naruto into unintended slumber as well. He really was too tired for deep thinking and decisions right now. "I know you said I am going with him but although you said it's because he wouldn't want to be without me when he wakes up. . .that seems. . .a little simplified to me. What's the real reason, Kyuubi?"

The demon grimaced. She should have known he wouldn't buy that. Damn man was too smart sometimes. Sighing she used Naruto's vocal cords and told him, "Because you are as close to death as he is and, like him, your soul will not receive the reward it deserves either. You have been a good friend and supporter to him all his life and we do not think Kami is being fair in this. Because you truly hate those who made his life so hard and especially the one who is responsible for his death, the Kami will withhold from you the reward you deserve. So we decided to send you with him to give you both another chance. Now lay down and go to sleep." The whole time the demon had been talking Kakashi had been making Naruto as comfortable as he could. He had made the chakra copy of the journal as Kyuubi had request he do and put the original into Naruto's hands wrapping them firmly around it to be sure he didn't lose his grip on it. Now he stretched his own length out beside the small blond and pulled the young man to him wrapping his arms around him as comfortingly as he could. He tried not to worry about waking up a jinchuuriki but all his life he had been told only a newborn could survive being sealed as a demon vessel. But if there was a chance he could stay with Naruto and continue to help him, damned if he was going to let a little something like a demon seal hold him back. The last thing he heard, as he drifted into sleep holding Naruto as tightly as he dared, was Kyuubi directing him to place one hand on the journal to help Naruto hang onto it. Automatically, Kakashi did as he was bidden and wrapped long slender fingers around Naruto's small hand.

Kyuubi and the demons held Naruto together as his nightmares began pounding at the mental barriers, trying to break free so they could torment his rest. They fought their own natures as much as they fought the nightmares but each was determined that the final hours of the boy who should have become a man would not be full of torment and regret. They also held each other in check as some of the demons had not been sealed before and the nightmares were like manna to them. They understood the language of a nightmare much better than they understood this other language that spoke of compassion and love. So Nibi and Kyuubi worked together to hold the other demons back until they got the reading of two sleeping humans who were deep enough asleep they would not voluntarily awaken and then one by one they poured out of the seal where they had been confined.

Kyuubi wrapped herself around Naruto's form while a silvery white light wrapped around Kakashi's longer form. Both demons covered the men from the tip of their heads to the soles of their bare feet. The silvery light of the other demon got to work immediately on copying and adapting Naruto's seal for Kakashi's unique characteristics. Kyuubi helped him but was careful not to let her chakra touch the new seal.

The rest of the demons flowed out of the window which had long ago been broken. Silently they flowed through the streets of the village, seen as no more than mere sprinkles of multi-colored sunbeams dancing in the odd shaft of sunlight as they searched the village for those who were their marks. Some sought to shelter and others to kill and torment but all had a specific mark in mind.

In the apartment, Kyuubi and her wolf demon companion were also working to encase both Naruto and Kakashi in enough chakra to keep their bodies from being destroyed or desecrated by their enemies until they could send the two out into the cosmos. They already knew the Timewalker was watching and waiting for them but they couldn't go until Ginkorou could enter Kakashi's seal without destroying the man. And in the meantime they needed to protect the pair from any and all harm, good intentioned or otherwise. Kyuubi and the other demons knew Kakashi had made enemies by seeking to protect Naruto and treat him as a regular human being and the demons feared those enemies would seek to harm his corpse just as they would Naruto's. So, by encasing both men in their chakra, they would stop that from happening before their friends got there to take charge of any remains.

Once they were done with the encasing and the seal design, Ginkorou entered the new seal to test it for suitability. He found it would hold and sent all but a fraction of his chakra back outside the seal. It was time to send the mortals out into the cosmos. They began to chant and their chakra spiraled up into the air over the bed. The silvery white chakra danced an intricate dance with the ruby red chakra to the cadence of the deep, chanting voices speaking a foreign harsh and guttural language never before heard in the land of men. The cadence pulsed in people's veins and throbbed in their ears. Young children moved and stamped their feet to the beat sending it echoing out into the atmosphere as elders in their rocking chairs rocked to it and hummed without awareness, tapping the beat on the arms of their chairs with whatever they had in hand at the time. The cadence grew and swelled out over the entire village as the two spiraling chakra rose higher and higher into the air over the run-down apartment building Naruto had lived in.

Sakura's group had just come through the gate when the light spiked over the apartment building. She was just about to call attention to it when she felt a burning on her arms and looked down to see a black substance wrapping about her. All she could do was say, "what the. . ." before the pain began. Whimpering she ran for the hospital, her team behind her wondering what was wrong with her now.

Like every team she went into the field with, this team could not stand her after three weeks in the field with her constant supply of complaints and sniping. She complained of broken rest if she was told to take a night shift in the middle of the night. She complained of the weather and of nature in general. But most of all she had complained of having to run this mission on Naruto's behalf. Her feelings toward someone they each felt had been one of the best, if not the best of her class was what had really pushed them into the category of never wanting to enter the field with her again. All the girl did was whine and complain. And for the life of them they had no idea what her problem now was. But she was not the only person they saw running for the hospital.

All over the village, others were also running for the medics at the hospital as the freed demons found their marks. The demons did not have to use all their chakra on every single person they were to either shelter or harm. Even if they would eventually kill their mark they were tailed demons for a reason and to kill a pesky little mortal really did not take very much of their chakra to do. Most their victims couldn't even see the tiny amount of chakra that was killing them but Sakura required different handling because of her very viciousness in Naruto's life. The amount of pain she had put the boy through along with the numerous efforts he had made to save her from this end determined her fate. So because she had to remain alive while at the same time she was being destroyed, Nibi handled her. Nibi had the power to resurrect the dead. The graveyard was her playground and as such she was the best choice for dealing with Sakura and when they were done with the cherry haired girl never again would she exist in the realms in any form. Nibi would make sure of it.

In still other places, people froze in the midst of whatever they had been doing. Umino Iruka froze at the chalkboard as his students froze in their seats. Tsunade froze with a saucer of Sake halfway to her lips. Shizune froze as she was about to give a patient a shot of antibiotics. Maito Gai froze mid-step on his five mile run. Kurenai and her child froze in their apartment. Shikamaru froze in the cubicle at the library where he spent most his time now a days. And Chouji froze with his library approved snack half chewed in his mouth.

Yamanaka Inoichi began screaming as the state he had been locked in ever since he had tried to probe Naruto's mind loosened and let him express his horror at what he had found there. The demons had told him while he had been illegally inside Naruto's mind what they were going to do to him and his comrades. They told him he had just signed the death warrant for his whole family because if the leader of a family or clan can not be trusted to honor the bylaws of his family, how then can society trust the other members of that clan to abide by them? Obviously, they could not. The demons actually showed him a mental copy, plucked from his own mind, of the family laws regarding the use of their mind transfer ability. The section of the law he had violated by entering Naruto's mind without his permission or knowledge was clearly highlighted as was the penalty for having done so. They showed him how his disrespect of Naruto had led to his daughter doing the same damn thing more than once and having to be rescued by Naruto himself with her illegally gained information being siphoned from her mind. The demons told him, "You set the example. She followed your actions. So you will pay and she will pay because neither of you can be trusted not to name someone else as sub-human and therefore not subject to your bylaws. Die knowing you killed your own daughter." Then they locked his mind in a stasis he could not break free of and let him leave.

His daughter, Ino, was in a state similar to her friend Sakura, since she had often followed the cherry haired girl's lead in how to treat Naruto. Just as Sakura was being tormented by Nibi and being led to a place where she would run into her Kaasan, Ino was being directed to her Otousan. She was in pain and really wanted to go get some kind of relief but her mind was urging her to go to her Otousan and she followed the mental direction. By the time she reached his room, tears were pouring from her eyes and her hands were shaking as she tried to open his door.

Tenten froze as she was about to step outside her front door. Neji froze halfway out of his family compound on his way to practice with his team. Lee froze on a run similar to the one Gai was on. Genma and Raidou froze with a hand on the doorknob of their homes where they had been about to go inside. Kotetsu and Izumo froze in their post outside the Hokage's door. Anko and Ibiki both froze mid-word during a discussion of how to break Jiraiya and get him to tell them how to undo Naruto's seal.

The council did not have things nearly as nice though. Like Sakura, Ino and Inoichi, they were each in a great deal of pain. One by one the demons led them outside to the plaza in front of the tower so that all could witness what happened when you crossed one the demons protected. What happened when you tried to hurt someone because they wore a seal that held something you did not understand. When you named a person as a demon. Normal people all over the village were being called to the plaza so they could witness the punishment of the guilty as a lesson to never make this mistake again.

Once she got the door open to Inoichi's room, both Ino and her father found their feet turning and heading outside the hospital along with everyone else who had, minutes before thought to seek relief from their pain in the hospital halls. All of them were crying as their pain continued to increase but none could stop the movement of their feet. Not only were people coming from the hospital and the tower, the prison had also opened the doors and people were spilling out of there.

Also coming from the tower was Jiraiya where he had been in one of the holding cells since Tsunade had ordered him picked up and held for questioning about Naruto's seal. And no matter the torment and torture the others would undergo for their behavior his would be worse. Because he had not only hurt Naruto with his actions. He had destroyed Kakashi's remaining faith in his trusted people and he had hurt his former teammate as well. Because Naruto had healed her heart and given her back her good spirit and healed her of her fear of blood allowing her to work with the sick and injured healing their wounds and illnesses again, the demons took Jiraiya's action to harm Naruto as a personal affront to her as well. Iruka too would be a long time recovering from the loss of Naruto as Naruto had made it possible for him to leave the death of his parents behind and quit living his life for them. Therefore to the demons Jiraiya had a lot to atone for. His debt to them was huge. Far larger than the debt owed by anyone else.

When all the innocent, but not dear to Naruto or Kakashi, people were gathered in the square and all the guilty were arranged in full view in the center of the plaza the torment really began. Every clan and family lost someone that day but the watchers heard from the mouths of each person exactly what they had done to deserve this gruesome death.

Ino and her Father followed Hyuuga Hiashi into death. Both tried to claim ignorance of any wrong doing but the demons did not allow their false innocence stand. They increased the torment without killing them until both owned up to the dishonesty of their behavior.

Ino named, one by one, every slight she had perpetrated against Naruto. She told how she had seen her Otousan entering Naruto's mind without his knowledge or permission and done the same. And when she finally admitted the number of times she had done that, the demons finally allowed her to die.

Inoichi cried rivers as he saw his little girl, his princess, being punished for behavior he had never told her was inappropriate. Logically, he knew she should have known full well what she was doing was wrong but he also knew she only did it to him because he showed her it was acceptable. But when she confessed to having decided to do the same thing to Lee, in order to find out why the weird boy was obsessed with her friend, he knew the demons had been right. Once it was ok to break the rules with one individual, excuses could be found to make it alright to do it to another until finally no one was obeying the rules. And so when she died, he cried as he confessed his own crimes against Naruto. He freely told the people how he had not seen Naruto as a person like them all. In his eyes Naruto had been nothing more than a weapon for the council to wield in the protection of Konoha's masses. By him learning to channel and weild the demon's chakra as his own he and his fellows felt less of Konoha's real people would have to die for their town. But he was wrong because his blindness had led to his daughter not treating Naruto as she should have. His actions had led to her deciding the rules were not always meant to be followed if one had a reason they felt compelling enough to set those rules aside. And he had not learned the error of his ways until now when he heard his little girl confess to using the family technique on an innocent person for the simple crime of liking a girl. He told the people how, even though he had requested and been denied permission to enter Naruto's mindscape just that week he had done it anyway because the council had learned Naruto did not return home with just the chakra of one demon in his seal but chakra from all the tailed demons and they wanted to make more children like Naruto from it. But Naruto would not agree. He would not accept that the village had need of those weapons the children would grow into and let them seal eight more children to demons. He wanted to find a way to force Naruto to let them do as they wished and he confessed they had every intention of taking the Kyuubi from Naruto and sealing it into a new child also. He admitted he knew that taking the demons from Naruto would kill him but in Inoichi's eyes Naruto was nothing but a broken down worn out weapon and it was time to cast it aside for the new model.

Sakura took a lot longer to confess to her bad actions against Naruto but not only was the list of wrongs she had done longer than anyone else's so was her refusal to see how she had done anything objectionable to begin with. Her confession took fifteen minutes once she was finally in too much pain to escape the truth. All the times she had hit him because he smiled at her or greeted her upon seeing him, all the times she had dropped poison into his food or accidently hit him with a genjutsu or kunai, all the cruel comments, innuendos and lies she had told to ruin any possibility of friends he might actually be able to engineer for himself and of her behind his back sabotage she had perpetrated against him with her teammate Sasuke and their team captain, Kakashi. She admitted it didn't work with Kakashi though she could never figure out why but it had worked with Sasuke. But her final admission was the one that stunned the crowd. She admitted she was the one to tell Sasuke he could upgrade his eyes if he killed Naruto in combat. She had told him she would make sure Naruto came after him so that he would have a chance to kill him and she believed he could do it. She had told Sasuke that if he did not manage to kill Naruto that time she would remain in the village in order to be sure he got chance after chance until the day finally arrived when he killed Naruto in combat and received his final level of his dojutsu. Then she would join him in his pursuit of whomever he wished to kill because they were teammates and teammates stand by each other no matter what. By the time, Sakura died in front of her Kaasan, the people gathered in the square as witnesses, held no sympathy for any of those who were slowly being executed but especially not her. They had gotten the message the demons were giving them. Human beings are not demons no matter how different they are. And just because someone has a seal placed upon their person does not make them a demon at all.

Haruno Kiku died minutes after her daughter did. After hearing the list of wrong doing by her daughter and how the girl had been planning for years to betray the village to follow her teammate into exile but only after she had achieved her goal of killing her other teammate, Kiku could not hide her guilt. Like Inoichi, she confessed to being the example her daughter had followed and to never giving the girl a good reason to believe both her teammates deserved life equally.

But Jiraiya was not given the luxury of dying for his crime. Instead he would live out the rest of his life as he had tried to force Naruto to live. The demons circled their chakra around his form altering him and changing the nature of his own personal chakra to resemble something more like their own without granting him the status of being a demon. He was a man, not a demon and they would not grant him status as a demon. But never again would he be able to use his chakra without pain. They had needed to get permission from the Kami to punish him the way they wished to but Kami had not had any problem with it so long as they did not turn him into a demon or kill him. Nor were they allowed to grant him immortality but they had never had any intention of doing that.

After Jiraiya had told the people what he had done and why he had done it, there was a shocked and horrified stillness in the air over the square. The demon awarenesses were shocked to realize these people had no idea who's child they had been witnessing the mistreatment of all these years. Not only had Naruto been punished for a crime he never committed but his very identity had been denied to him by the powers that be within the village. All seven awarenesses were outraged by this total denial of who he had been.

After Jiraiya was punished for his crimes, they went off to find Tsunade. They entered the bubble around her that isolated her from what they were doing, or rather had done, in the village and being careful of damaging her with their chakra planted their question into her mind of why his identity had been hidden from the people. She answered them out loud telling them of the numerous enemies Naruto had as the Son of the Yellow Flash and the Red Death, as his Kaasan had been known. She explained it was his Otousan's request that Naruto not be told who's son he was until he reached his majority of twenty-one. She also told them her plans for that wonderful day when she could tell him who he was and the present she was compiling for him on that day. The whole time she was talking tears were running down her cheeks indicating she knew what had happened even if they were protecting her from having to bear witness to it.

The demons selected an awareness to tell her exactly what had been done and what she was to do when they released the people from their control. The other six went back to the square and began to clear away the bodies except for those they had determined did not deserve burial or destruction. Those bodies were treated to a chakra manipulation that would keep their corpse from spreading disease and moved them to a location where they could be overlooked for all eternity but not given any dignity or honor in their death they had not earned during their lives. Demonic voices told the people why the Haruno women were thrown onto the dung heap instead of being buried under the sod or consumed in flames and shadow the way the other deceased people were being disposed of. In the end the people nodded their agreement. One person spoke up. "Then that is not the best place for them as we do use that on our gardens from which we grow our food. Outside the village a mile to the west is where we throw away the garbage that is unfit for our gardens or will take too long to break down. They should be placed there." A check was made and the bodies were moved to that location.

Hiashi was not the only Hyuuga to die that day but he was the highest ranking one. Most of his personal council followed him into death signifying a change in the Hyuuga Clan.

The Inuzuka clan lost only Tsume and a few of her most loyal followers which included her nin-dog as well as theirs. Her death was witnessed by her daughter who took over as head of clan immediately.

The Nara clan had only one survivor by the time the dying was over. Shikamaru was the only member of his clan left.

And the Akamichi clan lost only some minor members because like Chouji, neither of his parents could bring themselves to ever do anything to harm a fellow citizen. Whether they saw Naruto as human or as a demon weapon or not he looked human and they could not bring themselves to hurt him. When Chouji had been younger and questioned them about Naruto and the treatment he received they had sat him down and explained their point of view to the boy. In their eyes they were not Kami. They had no idea if Naruto was a normal little boy just as Chouji was, a demon cast weapon as the council claimed he was or could be groomed into being, which was in their opinion a strange way to phrase things or the demon Kyuubi itself. What they knew was he looked human and he acted like a normal little boy. Until they saw proof that he was anything else they would hold with the idea he was a boy just as Chouji was. And so Chouji and his family had never mistreated Naruto and even gone so far as to get him food and clothing from time to time.

The Aburame clan had lost as many members as the Inuzuka and the Hyuuga Clans. Shino was about to find himself the leader of his clan the same as Hinata was. It would take a long time before the Aburame clan recovered from this set back.

Koharu, Homaru and Danzo all died along with the other civilian councillors who had earned their seats through money and influence rather than brains. By the time the sun set on Konoha, everything had changed in the village and the people who were slowly making their way back to their homes knew somehow, this was their last chance to get their act together and figure out what the hell they were doing. The next time the demons came to town there would not be a village or a single person left to tell the tale of their next time the demons came to town would be their last visit. Ever.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi All: Well this is it. The last chapter of Part One. So sad to see it finished already I know. But this just opens the door for Part Two. As always I do not own Naruto, Kakashi or any of their friends or enemies. I own only the random little thoughts in my head and not all of them do I even want to claim. Some are just too dang wierd for claiming. But as I have been telling my reviewers, now it is time for you to talk to me. If you are reading this story, and you like it, turn your imagination loose and let me hear from you. Because Kakashi and NAruto are now jinchuuriki in the time stream, they can go anywhere, end up anyplace and become anyone I want them to become. And I do mean anyone. So long as who they become in the new reality is a basic of who they are in canon it is a possibility and I can play with it. Also, if there's someone else you want to send from this reality to the one where they end up, tell me. Give me a good reason why and a plausible way to get them there. Now I don't write cross-overs (too complicated and messy) so no space faring ninja please. I seriously doubt I would even read that idea. But if you base your idea in a tenet of canon and tell me what you would like to see, I will definitely consider the idea. Part two is not even begun yet so don't hesitate to send me your ideas. I deliberately have held off on writing it to hear from you. As a writer it is easy for me to get stuck in a rut and write the same thing over and over and over again using different words and scenes. This idea was a way for me to break out of that rut in a way my readers would enjoy. So let me hear from you and lets have fun with this story. **

Saturday:

When team eight came through the gates late the next evening they found a village in mourning. Naruto and Kakashi had been found in Naruto's apartment and a bier had been set up for them so people could see them to pay their respects to the boy everyone had ignored all his life. Hinata had seen it first and her gasped "No," drew the attention of her teammates to the double bier. "We're too late," she cried running toward the memorial. Kiba and Shino took off after her also disbelieving of how they had returned too late to save him. All three had worked tirelessly to find a way to remove that seal knowing instinctively who wore it. And sure enough, the seal glowed on his chest which had been exposed so everyone would know what had been the cause of his death. A steady stream of people were coming and going from the double bier, each person dressed in full mourning clothing and carrying the ritual tokens for wishes of a good and speedy journey to the afterlife.

They were met at the bier by the other remaining members of their peer group and their former Sensei who informed them of what had occurred the day before. Each person told their own story of what they had seen and heard about the events of the day before and the change that had fallen over the village. Maito Gai summed it up, "The first time a demon came to our village bringing death and destruction, a hero stepped forward to stop it's reign of terror. He sealed the demon away at the temporary imprisonment of his own soul and the cost of his remaining years of life. But in the process he gave us the true hero of the day. Without Naruto, he could not have ended the demon's run on our village and none of you would be here today at all. But this village scorned Naruto, treated him like dirt beneath their notice, called him names when they were forced to see him and tried more than once to kill him. Through it all no one saw what was right in front of our eyes. No one saw why Minato-Hokage found this one child to be the perfect choice for his very unique and special seal. But it was so clear, I can not help but to think it was a deliberate blindness on our part. We did not wish to see who Naruto was and so we did not. My Rival knew though. He always had known and he cherished him as we were all told to do and none of us did. And now it is too late. Now we can not tell him we recognize him and see his greatness. Now we can now tell him we value him. So together my rival and our sacrifice will lay here for all time in the hope Konoha never again forgets to honor her heros for the true sacrifice they make for us."

"That's not strictly true, Gai-sensei. I saw him," whispered Hinata reaching out a slender hand to tenderly try to brush an errant lock of hair out of Naruto's eyes. "He was always my Hero. My inspiration and my way of the ninja was his way of the ninja. I will never forget Naruto-kun. Never."

Kurenai spoke up. "That's true, Hinata, but now you have a clan to run. You and Shino both." Both young people looked up at her sharply. "Every clan and family in the village lost people yesterday when the demons decided to clean house and rid us of our worst corruptors. Each of your Fathers were amongst those who died and Kiba your Kaasan was also among that number. The Yamanaka clan and the Haruno families are no more. Shikamaru is the only surviving member of his clan as both his parents had been involved in acts perpetrated against either Naruto, Kakashi or both of them. And the Hyuuga clan council was almost decimated by the purge as well."

The young people all gasped as they heard the shocking list of the dead. "Otousan?" Hinata whispered, "The council too. My sister?"

"Your sister is fine. Either she has had a true change of heart or the demons did not discover her treachery. Either that or they consider her a child and not yet responsible for her actions."

"Because you are all, with the exception of Kiba, now council seat holders as well you will all find this was your last mission as a team. We can not have clan heads and council members risking death in the field," said a sad and tired Tsunade. She had just come from the hospital where Jiraiya was being treated for his injuries of the day before. She had found he would live but using his chakra would always hurt now and the wounds the demons had inflicted on him would have to heal in their own time. She could not heal them for him as she had always done before. But it was nothing to the torment in his mind. Being forced by the demons to actually confess his wrong doing yesterday had forced him to acknowledge the truth he had hidden from himself. For the first time in twenty years, he acknowledged the truth of who Naruto had been and why Minato had chosen to give his own son the Kyuubi Demon Seal of Imprisonment. For the first time, he admitted he was a murderer and a child abuser of the worst kind. He admitted he was a thief as well since he had stolen Naruto's belongings and rightful earnings including his food and drink. He was very suicidal but yet there was no hint or indication he would attempt the taking of his own life. It was more like he knew he would not be allowed that luxury even if he were to attempt it.

Life slowly got back to normal in the village but those who had died that day were never inscribed on a headstone or the memorial stone. Only Naruto and Kakashi got their names inscribed on that honored stone. A few months later Sasuke came back to the village, looking for Sakura and his old team. He was wondering why she had not contacted him with information on Naruto and it was with shock he was told of Naruto's death and the resulting demise of everyone else.

Tsunade asked him point blank what he thought he was going to do now. His former genin squad was deceased down to the last man or woman in this case since Sakura had been the last one to die. His brother was dead at Naruto and Kyuubi's hands, paws or tails if you prefer. Orochimaru was dead as well and so was everyone else who had ever made his life or Naruto's life difficult. So just what was he going to do now?

He spent a few weeks in a holding cell thinking about it before he came to the conclusion he just really didn't know what to do. All his life, his focus had been solely getting stronger and faster so he could defeat his brother and end the disgrace to his clan. He confessed it had always been his intention to kill Sakura should she ever be stupid enough to join him in exile from the village because she did not have a reason worthy of leaving Konoha. And he had always meant to return to the village once his brother had been dealt with. But now he just didn't know what to do.

Ibiki had interrogated him as to why if he had killed Naruto and Sakura and followed it with killing Itachi, why then would he return? But in the end he got nothing because Sasuke honestly didn't know what he would do with his life now. They continued to hold him in interrogations but eventually decided to send him to orientation and see if he could be salvaged as a ninja for the village. The Purge, as the villagers had taken to calling the events after Naruto and Kakashi's passing, had wiped out a large number of their ninja base. Not only had a lot of ninja died but other ninja had been forced into retirement because they had to take over their parents position on the council and in their clans. Even Neji had been retired since he was now needed on the Hyuuga family council. Kiba had formed into a team with Tenten and Lee but they were the only team functioning as a three man unit now. When it was necessary for them to have a fourth, Chouji joined them but mostly he did guard duty on the wall around the village. Kurenai had gone back into her uniform as well, leaving her son with Konohamaru's Kaasan when she had to be away on a mission if Shikamaru couldn't sit the boy for her. Gai had gone back to work full time as a missions jounin also. In fact, every one of the ninja the people had gotten used to seeing was now out of the village more than they were in it. So Sasuke was needed and as galling as it was to allow him to return to the fold they could not afford to turn away an able bodied ninja. However, they did make him promise he would never procreate so they would never have another massacre in the village. To insure his cooperation he underwent a sterilization so he could not have a child at all. His clan would die with him as punishment for his many and varied crimes against the village and he had to tell people the truth of his punishment when he was asked of it. The new council and Tsunade did not wish it to be rumored they had not learned from the past. So he would have to tell the people his punishment had been the end of his clan for all time.

In the academy Iruka and the other instructors were given new guidleines by which to teach the children of the village their history. Tsunade wanted it made abundantly clear to the kids no one was less than someone else simplay because they couldn't point to a famous or infamous ancestor or their eyes were not different than everyone else's. Sometimes what made a person someone worth knowing had nothing to do with anything on the surface of the body or in who made it possible for that person to exist in the first place. In fact, most of the time those things only got in the way of making a person someone worth knowing.

Shikamaru continued to work on unraveling the seal Jiraiya had placed on Naruto. In addition to that seal he was also working on unraveling the Curse Seal of Heaven both Anko and Sasuke wore. During his study into Naruto's seals he had discovered the world of seals held his interest and was full of possibilities he had never before imagined. Because he saw seals could be used for anything man needed to use them for he began working on seals to help ninja with difficulties like Lee's inability to use chakra or ninja who lost a limb in the service of their village. For Lee he designed and created storage seals he could inscribe on his body or clothing to hold a set amount of donated chakra. This would allow Lee to perform a set jutsu or two before the chakra would need to be replenished. Because the seal kept the chakra in a stasis, it would always be there until Lee needed to use it and if he inscribed the seal onto his skin it would circulate in the seal keeping it fresh without allowing it to grow so it could not overwhelm Lee's chakra coils. But Shikamaru recommended to Lee he put the seals on his clothing instead of his skin pointing out he did not need the chakra to circulate in order to use it.

Tsunade,Gai and Shikamaru watched over Lee like a hawk when they first gave him those seals and explained what they were for. None of the trio wanted him to become another abusive person stealing from others to get chakra just because now it was possible for him to use it the way other ninja did. But Lee had been a good friend and silent observer of all the things Naruto and Kakashi had gone through for the village and he had no desire to become one of those people who had made their lives such a living torment. The trio found they had a hard time just getting him to practice the jutsu that the seals allowed him to do now as he didn't want to waste the donated chakra when it was not needed. To practice meant going through the stored chakra and needing to ask people to donate more for his use in the future.

With the inofrmation brought, by the Rookies, from the other villages and those who studied seals, Shikamaru did find a way to make sure if ever someone got that seal again it could be removed before it resulted in the death of an innocent person. Though it was too late for Naruto, Shikamaru let it be known no one would ever suffer that way again.

Kiba not only did missions for the village with Lee and Tenten. He also worked with his sister to run the Inuzuka clan and helped her weed out those people who felt the death of their Kaasan was flawed. He knew his Kaasan had earned her death as did Hana. But some of their clan members just couldn't see how being killed by a demon was anything but a bad thing. They had loudly protested that she was not being honored in the village and her reputation being restored. But the siblings simply pointed out every wrong she had taken part in or done herself against either Naruto or Kakashi to try and harm them simply because she did not like them. And that they pointed out, was exactly what her problem with the pair had been. She didn't like them. She knew Naruto was not a demon. She knew he was not just the Kyuubi weapon the council wanted him to be. She was well aware he was just a mortal boy but she didn't like him and she didn't like Kakashi. Kakashi was too smart and Naruto was the son of his parents. And both had more luck than the average person. So she set out to destroy them both. Hana and Kiba pointed out to their clan to not like a person is normal and human behavior but when you have a position of authority and you let that position go to your head and use it to cause the people you don't like torment such as she had with them, then you have crossed the line and gone too far.

Jiraiya never wrote another trashy novel or went peeping on the girls as they bathed. He still ran the spy network for the village but his inability to use his chakra without pain made sure he never forgot what he had done to his Godson. Because he had made it impossible for Naruto to use chakra without pain he knew the sentence was well-deserved and never complained about it. But it was along time before he finally admitted his actions against Naruto had hurt both Kakashi and Tsunade as well. He simply would not allow himself to see how their pain had equalled Naruto's because of who and what Naruto was to the both of them.

Shizune was his doctor since she could handle treating him where Tsunade could not. She didn't treat him with chakra because even someone else's chakra entered into Jiraiya's system would cause him pain and suffering. The demons had done that because they did not wish Jiraiya to figure out he could get a pain free source of chakra and seal someone else in order to siphon their chakra for his own use. They figured if he would seal Naruto's chakra away, and Orochimaru had come up with the Cursed Seal of Heaven to allow him to take over other people's bodies at will, then Jiraiya could come up with a siphoning seal to allow him a new chakra source not touched with their curse. This way he could not.

New people did come to Konoha and new clans sprouted from them but the old way of life in the village was over. It took time but the village did recover and prosper. Marriages took place and orphans were adopted from outside the villages. Everyone noticed an influx in the number of blue-eyed blonds and silver haired children with dark grey eyes but no one found it at all odd all things considered. Children were born into those clans that survived The Purge. People died in the fullness of time but for the village of Konoha the story of Kakashi and Naruto survived it all. Never again would Konoha forget how they had treated one of their own. Never would the people forget what happens when you grow complacent and neglectful. And never again would a child in Konoha suffer for the simple crime of being different or not knowing who his parents were. Konoha was supposed to have been the best of the villages and yet they had festered and allowed to grow the worst evil man could ever have imagined. Never again would they allow it to occur so long as they remained vigilant and aware.

End of Part One

**Author Note: Like I said, this is the end of Part One. I think we have left the village of Konoha in good standing minus their evil people with their good people finally awake and aware of what can happen when you are too afraid or too busy sleeping to pay attention to details. Now I just need your feedback to get started on Part Two.**


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